Star Trek Hancock: Ambush In The Omega Sector
by Ghost Snipe
Summary: This book follows the original Star Trek "Omega Glory" and is set in the days of The Next Generation. It will deal primarily with the inhabitants of the planet Omega 4 (their earth) and their dealings with the Borg. They will meet one member of Star Fleet early on, but will not meet with members of the USS Titan until about midway when they will join the Federation
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own Star Trek or any of its characters or names. He only owns his own ideas and story lines

Prologue

In the late 20th to the early 21st centuries a handful of third world countries began testing with nuclear and biological weapons. Not the least of which was North Korea and Iraq. Between the years of 1979 and 2003 Saddam Hussein killed between 20,000 to 100,000 Kurds, and between 60,000 and 130,000 Shi'ites. Some estimate all in all, including those in the Iran-Iraq wars; Hussein murdered about one million people in all during his reign. Between the years of 1994 and 2011 Kim Jong-il was the ruler in North Korea who ordered the testing of nuclear weapons in hopes of creating nuclear missiles. Upon the death of Kim Jong-il, his son Kim Jong-un took his place as leader of North Korea. Both governments hated the U.S. and did everything possible to make trouble where they could.

The animosity grew between the east and the west which lead to the events of September 11, 2001 in the attack on the United States by Muslim extremists under the leadership of Osama bin Laden where over three thousand lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and what would have been the White House had the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 not fought for control of the plane which crashed in a field near Shanks Ville, Pennsylvania.

In 2003 President George W Bush sent troops into Iraq after giving Hussein ample time to cooperate with UN demands concerning the inspection of his WMD's. This war lasted until President Barak Obama took the troops out of Iraq and sent them to Afghanistan in 2010 to find Osama bin Laden, who was captured and killed by Seal Team 6 in 2011. During this time and until 2014 tensions were high between the Middle East and the U.S. and the U.K. This tension is what ultimately led to WWIII…


	2. Chapter 1: A Planet At War

**Disclaimer**: This writer does not own any copyright to Star Trek, its TV shows, characters or ideas. He also has no copyright to historical persons or things such as ships. A reference is also made to the 2012 movie "Red Dawn" that this writer has no ownership to, as well as parts to the video game Battlefield 3. This writer only has publication rights to his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 1

A Planet At War

In 2014 North Korea fired missiles at the United Kingdom, and China launched against Israel. The United States came to the United Kingdom's aid at the behest of the British Prime Minister. President Barak Obama warned Kim Jong-un to stop firing upon the UK or he would be forced to retaliate on the UK's behalf. Kim Jong-un, ignored the President's warnings and continued his attacks on the UK, and America fired upon North Korea. President Obama, then, sent the USS George Washington Carrier Battle Group to the aide of Israel, and the Washington launched an air strike on Beijing Shahezhen Air Base. Russia joined China and North Korea then Iran, and Iraq joined the three countries, bringing biological weapons into the war, making up what came to be later called AXIS. The United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Japan formed an alliance, which came to be known as the Allied Forces. At this point, the war was fought with non-nuclear weapons. Japan had made a treaty with the U.S., after the atomic attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of WWII, to never again use nuclear weapons, commonly known as "Three Non-Nuclear Principles," and she stood faithful to that agreement.

Early in 2015 global natural resources began to be on the brink of depletion as the last of earth's oil was drained from under her mantle. After six months, the United Kingdom was conquered, and the US feared that it would be Axis' next target. As the world's economy tumbled into chaos, President Obama launched nuclear missiles at North Korea and Russia. It was at this point that Axis invaded the U.S. with a surprise air and ground attack in Northeastern Virginal. North Korea launched a ground attack upon the state of Washington by which the Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, tried to control the entire west coast. Kim Jong-un underestimated the will of the American people as did the Russians. When they launched their attack upon the city of Spokane they spent several months fighting a group of teens who fought under their high school banner "Wolverines."

After the first month the U.S. began losing ground on the East Coast and had serious problems on the West, especially Oregon and California. After one year Axis occupied all coasts and boarders around the U.S., after two years all of the Western states are lost, Most of the Northern, and New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida belonged to the Axis occupiers. As the U.S. began regaining her land, Axis got angry and Iran launched Nuclear Missiles and took out North Texas, North Oklahoma, most of Colorado, all of Kansas, all of Missouri, most of Iowa, a big portion of Kentucky and Tennessee. To the East D.C. was taken out, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and Main were all victims of nuclear devastation. This devastation gave American and UK troops new resolve and new motive. They rose up and began to fight, and to take back what Axis had taken from them.

The countries of the Allied Forces fought side by side against the AXIS, as the rest of the world waited and watched in horror. The war lasted for four years before an armistice was finally reached, but the devastation left a total of two billion dead in its wake. Every major city was damaged beyond belief, leaving no functional government. It looked as if Earth would die a slow and painful death of greed, hatred, and radiation poisoning. The biological agents swept through the rest of the planet spreading disease and death taking another billion. For the next 20 years survivors lived a miserable existence of disease and decay. For many years most pregnancies ended in miscarriages, and those that survived did so with severe birth defects.

By the year 2034 people started working together again trying to form communities and nations. Two great super-powers arose out of this: (A) The Eastern Alliance-which mainly consisted of AXIS, and (B) The Western Alliance-which mainly consisted of the Allied Forces and in the year 2053 the two main super-powers divided up the world and once again men started their quest for power and thirst for blood.

In the years following the third great war men began building military aircraft, the fighters of which were not much more than the fighter jets used in the Korean war in the 50's. By 2060 a cold war threatened to bring humanity back down to ground level. Because of this Zefram Cochrane, a scientist, took a nuclear missile that had failed to launch in WWIII and began turning it into a symbol of hope and peace. He built what he called a "warp engine" using matter-anti-matter technology. He called the ship "The Phoenix." On April 4, 2063 a plane from the Eastern Alliance attacked the Cochrane lab destroying the Phoenix and killing Zefram Cochrane. Lily Sloane, Cochrane's assistant was critically wounded in the attack, but survived. She kept most of Cochrane's plans for his warp drive engine, but a portion of it was destroyed in the fire.

In 2068 after 12 years of cold war, a treaty was finally signed between the two alliances and humanity was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. Once again humanity began to rebuild itself. Cities were rebuilt and governments were re-established. The United States of America re-adapted the original constitution and America began to grow again. During this time two sides arose: (1) The Yankees, which consisted of those countries that had been part of the Western Alliance, and the Communists which consisted of the countries which made up the Eastern Alliance.

In the year 2190 WWIV began, and with a Navy and Air force (equivalent to a Pre-WWIII Navy & Air Force), both sides fought with conventional weapons (since the treatise 2018 specifically forbade nuclear weapons), but when the oil, weapons and ammunition ran out they resorted to swords, knives and spears. By the year 2222 the fourth great war (which had been going on for 32 years) had come down to two warring sides, the Yangs and the Comms, fighting each other with sticks and stones which was exactly as Einstein had predicted: " I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but world War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." The Comms was the name for the communists and the Yangs was the name for the Yankees. This time man-kind drove itself into the ground with little to no hope of a better life. All anyone knew was to fight the other side, and by 2252 most couldn't even tell you why they were fighting.

In 2262 one last massive battle was fought, though the Comms had help from an advanced race of humanoids from a starship. Another starship appeared and stopped the first from helping the Comms to win. The Captain of the 2nd starship, a Captain Kirk, seemed to know about the Yangs most cherished word: Freedom, and their most cherished documents: The Constitution of the United States, and he in fact could quote the Preamble from memory, and he knew about their most holy book The Holy Bible. Capt. Kirk told the Yangs that the precious words of the constitution were not just for the Yangs, but for the Comms as well.

Cloud Williams, the tribal chief, promised Capt. Kirk that he would make sure that the holy words of the Constitution were applied to all, both to the Yangs and to the Comms. After the Yang victory the ships left and were never heard from again, but with a Yang victory, the constitution was put back into force and they began rebuilding their society.

The first thing that was done was that the Constitution was reactivated and an election was held. Chief Cloud Williams was elected President of the United States and a congress was re-established. It took five years to rebuild the White House which was done only from drawn pictures and a few photographs which survived the third world war. At the same time work was completed on the Capitol building.

Workers began to rebuild major cities around the country as well as around the world. Of the six billion people who lived on earth just before WWIII only three billion were still extant in 2270 when the rebuilding of San Francisco took place. Archaeologists found all that was needed to start rebuilding technology beneath the rubble from WWIII.

The Military was re-established with an Army, Air Force, Marine Corp, and Navy. In 2310 men started looking to the stars and by the year 2320 they were building ship yards in orbit around the earth. It was at this point that Earth had it's first contact with a race known as the Romulans. They destroyed their ship yards and the keels that had been laid. They abducted 12 people and left. The ship yard was rebuilt and the first ship to be build was a battle ship which was named "USS United States SBBN-01." The second was a star carrier named "USS America SCVAN 01." Over the next 30 years a fleet of ships had been built by the Americans as well as the British and Japanese governments, each bearing its own country's designation. The Comms also had ships, but their ships were smaller star cruisers and torpedo ships. After the fourth world war the Comms never did rebuild their government and most of their allies joined the Yang, leaving the North Koreans to themselves.

The destruction of the ship yards in 2320 marked the beginning of a war with the Romulans that would end up lasting nearly a hundred years. They came back 15 years later claiming that the humans had deliberately infected them with a deadly disease and they needed to be exterminated. The only thing that kept that from happening was the United States and America along with the British and Japanese ships fighting them.

Most of the military ships were built with nuclear reactors and were only capable of light speed. The USS Saratoga was to be the last star carrier with this capability. The USS Forrestal SCVAN 19 was the first United States ship to be built with a faster than light engine. It was built with the Zefram Cochrane style engine, but during her space trials something went horribly wrong during her first warp test and over 300 of her crew died. Scientists and Engineers worked day and night to figure out what had happened, but because only a part of the Cochrane blue prints were saved they were unable to make it work so the Forrestal was taken out of service and was eventually decommissioned.

The Navy Department decided to go back to light speed engines until either the Cochrane engine could be perfected or another alternative could be found. Cochrane's records showed that his engine was based upon the Alcubierre Metric, but his records were incomplete. In 2359 research turned up records on the Alcubierre drive, which was proposed by Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, by which a star ship might achieve faster-than-light travel among the stars. The records were complete, and all tests that were done worked out. Therefore the first FTL drive that was adapted by the United States Navy was the Alcubierre drive, and in 2370 work began on the first star carrier to have an engine that would allow a ship to travel faster than light; the USS Hancock SCVAN 41. The year is now 2407.


	3. Chapter 2: Resistance Is Futile

**Disclaimer**: This writer does not own any copyright to Star Trek, its TV shows, characters or ideas. He also has no copyright to historical persons or things such as ships. This writer only has publication rights to his own ideas and story line

Chapter 2

Resistance Is Futile

Capt. Lynn Macy was two months from retirement and the Saratoga was going to be turned into a museum. She was 71 years of age and had been married for 52 years. She had five children, 12 grand-children and 34 great grand-children. The bulkheads in her quarters were lined with their pictures. She was looking forward to spending the rest of her days with her true love Tom Macy who had just retired as an Admiral. The two were looking forward to spending time travelling and visiting the kids and grand-kids. The last thing she had on her mind today was dying. She had so much to look forward to.

As she sat in her chair, finishing a 12 hour bridge watch, her 1st officer Commander Ken Richards arrived to relieve her. He saw that she had a troubled look on her face so he asked her: "What is it Captain, what's wrong?" Lynn stated quietly,"Oh, probably nothing, I just don't like being out here without our battle group." Cmd. Richards asked "What are we doing out here anyway? Why aren't we in San Francisco getting ready for the decommissioning ceremony?" Macy said "I can't tell you." "You can't or you won't?" her first officer asked. "I can't, at the moment, but at the appropriate time I will let you in on it and you can inform the ship, but for now I have to remain quiet." Richards had served with Lynn Macy for 15 years and he had seen that look before and he immediately knew that it was a classified mission so he didn't say anything further. They spent a few minutes kidding when Cmd Richards said "So, two more months huh…aren't you gonna miss all this?" She replied "What, the watches, the paper work, the headaches" and he broke in "and don't forget about the bad coffee." They both laughed for they both knew that without coffee none of them could get through their day. He told her, "I'll give you six months and you'll be back here begging for your old job." She replied "Ha…you say! But in six months I am going to be in Virginia spoiling grand-kids." They both had a good laugh and she left and headed to the galley, poured a cup of coffee then headed to her quarters to sit down to read; a little alone time before dinner.

She had enjoyed her 50 years in the Navy, but now she was ready to spend the rest of her life living the good life. About half-way to her cabin when the ship shook and jerked, and Capt. Macy was thrown to the deck. No sooner had she hit the deck than she heard the shrilling squeal of the Boatswains whistle and then the words "**"Now Hear This! General Quarters, General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations!" Starboard side up and forward, port side down and aft. Move it people, this is not a drill. Set condition Zebra throughout the ship! All departments check in with DC Central**!" She immediately stopped and found a sound powered phone and called the bridge. Commander Richards responded, and she asked: "Ken, what's going on?"

Richards replied: Captain, we have a hostile vessel off of our starboard bow and it has opened fire upon us without any provocation. At that moment the ship jerked again and again she was thrown to the deck. Her mouth had hit the speaker on the 1MC (sound powered phone) and she was bleeding profusely from her lower lip. About that time her two marine body guards showed up to help her up. One guard started to call sick bay, and she said "belay that, just get me to the bridge." "Yes Sir" he said and the three of them started making their way to the bridge. During the trip to the bridge the ship was hit two more times, and again she fell, and again she was lifted up by her guards. She could hear the ships guns which had begun firing especially the Phalanx on the Starboard side. When they got to the bridge she found everything in disarray. Alarms were going off, the helmsman was hysterical crying about dying, the Bridge officer Lt. Goreman was trying to get control of everything, and her first officer, Ken Richards was lying on the deck with a piece of railing from the ceiling through his abdomen. He was still alive, but just barely.

Capt. Macy hurried to his side and knelt down at his side "Hang on Ken, I'll get sick bay up here." Coughing and barely talking Richards said "Don't…it won't do any good…I'm not going to make it." Lynn's voice cracked as she blurted out "No Ken, No…No…Hang on…Please Hang On." Richards weakly gave his mischievous smile and said "Sorry Lynn, I guess I won't win that bet in six months. It has been an honor Captain."

When he said that, he died. Fear ripped through her body as she watched her friend leave this life. Tears fell from her eyes on to his lifeless face and she muttered "The honor was all mine, my friend." After what seemed like an eternity, she made her way to her feet and firmly stated, "Silence those alarms!" "Everyone regain your composure." Then she calmly said: "There will be plenty of time to mourn the dead when this is over, but right now we are at war so let's get the old girl ready to fight." Her strength seemed to give everyone support, even the helmsman calmed down.

"Who are they, and what do they want?" she asked. Then suddenly her questions were answered in what sounded like a thousand voices: "We are the Borg, lower your defenses, surrender your vessel, and prepare to be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is Futile." She stood there for a moment in disbelief, and then she turned around and faced the window and said "Well…Resistance may be futile, but prepare to be resisted because we would rather die than be conquered." The voices replied: "Death is irrelevant…Resistance is irrelevant Preparation is irrelevant."

It was then that Captain Macy saw her foe for the first time. It was a large cubed shape ship, larger than the Saratoga. It was green in color and it had neither bow, nor stern and it didn't seem to be powered by any conventional engine that she had knowledge of.

Macy asked "Can we get fighters up?" But there was no answer. "Can we get fighters up? Someone answer me!" She said in a stern voice.

"No sir, the catapults were the first things taken out, and the second shot took out the angle deck." replied Lt. Goreman. "Don't the Lightning II's and the Star-Wolf's both take off from sitting positions?" Capt. Macy asked? "Yes sir, but it is a matter of getting them to the landing bay" replied Lt. Goreman. Capt. Macy turned to him and said, "See to it that it gets done. We have to have some protection out there. She suddenly wished she had her battle group with her, she had always thought it was a bad idea to be out there alone.

As the ship's guns continued firing at the Borg vessel, she could hear the starboard Phalanx spitting bullets into the direction of the assailant; it sounded like a large Gatlin Gun. It soon became clear, however, that there was little damage to the enemy ship, and whatever damage they were causing was being repaired as fast as they caused it. Another green laser light came from the Borg vessel and hit the roof of the Flight Deck about midway, just missing the nuclear missiles. The ship shuddered and jerked causing everyone on the bridge to hit the deck

Lynn turned to her first officer's lifeless body and walked over and took his keys from around his neck and spoke to Lt. Goreman "You have just been promoted to Executive Officer, and you are in charge of the Bridge until I return." "Aye Sir" Goreman replied. She went down the ladder and through a hatch and ended up in CIC. People were looking at her, as she walked over to the launch command module and gave the first officer's cabin key to the launch officer.

Her orders were to go to Cmd. Richard's cabin and get his keys to the nukes out of his locker. She then went to get her own. When she returned, she and the launch officer inserted the keys inside the switches, and Lynn said "Stand by to launch nukes!" "Nukes…Sir?" Lt. Monroe asked? "You heard me" she said. If we can't launch our fighters, then we are going to have to use nukes against that ship out there because our canons are not effective. She picked up the receiver to the 1MC and pushed the button for the bridge; Lt. Goreman responded: "Bridge." "Are we able to launch fighters?" Lynn asked. Lt. Goreman said "Negative, there are fires between the launch and landing bays and we can't get the fighters out."

Capt. Macy spoke into the 1MC and said "CIC to Communications!" The Communications officer replied: "Communications." "Send out the log buoy and send out a distress signal. Tell whoever is listening that we are under an unprovoked attack by an unknown intruder and we have no choice but to use nukes because we can't get our fighters out." Macy ordered. "Communications Aye." The communications officer Sonja Ramirez launched the log buoy, and then she launched a distress message as the captain had ordered.

When Captain Macy received word that her orders had been followed she gave the order to use nuclear missiles. She ordered a missile lock on the Borg vessel, and both she and the launch officer turned their keys simultaneously clockwise. Then she ordered the release of missile # 1. When the launch officer pushed the plunger, the covering for the launch tube gave way and went into space and the mount that held the Triton Missile began its upward rise until the missile was standing in the upright position. Then the missile fired and plunge toward its target, and when it hit it did quite a bit of damage to the Borg ship.

Lt. Goreman, on the Bridge, saw the shockwave from the explosion and ordered the bridge windows sealed. Upon this order steel slides came down in front of the glass hopefully to preserve it from breaking. The shockwave hit the carrier causing it to jerk to the port side, and all that were on it were thrown to the starboard side.

Capt Macy looked at the scanner on the the CIC console and saw that the Borg ship had not been destroyed so she launched another, but in the end she did more damage to the Saratoga than she did the Borg because of the shockwaves.

By this time she could hear gun fire from around the ship, and reports started coming in about people being taken from the Saratoga and taken to the Borg vessel. Crew members had seen the Borg crew use tentacles coming out of their hands on Saratoga crew causing them to break out with terrible rashes and causing metallic implants to form on their skin. As the Marines fired their weapons they found that these Borg soldiers were able to put up some sort of shield to repel their bullets. They resorted to flame throwers, but they were only able to kill a few before the Borg adapted their shields. They, then, started using hand to hand combat with knives, but after a short while even the knives stopped being able to penetrate their shields. It was at this point that Capt. Macy decided that she had no other choice but to destroy the Saratoga, and hopefully take the enemy with her.

She gave the order to ram the Borg vessel and for the Saratoga to self-destruct upon impact. She didn't give the order to abandon ship because she knew what would happen if the Borg vessel survived, and any of the crew were caught. Lt. Goreman ordered the helmsman to input the ordinance to collide with the Borg ship, and then he pushed the lever to full. Capt. Macy got on the ship's 1MC

Cpt. Macy spoke into the 1MC to the ship and said: "My fellow ship mates; brave crew of Sister Sara, the USS Saratoga, we have done everything we can to defeat this enemy, but we are out manned and out gunned. We have no hope of coming out of this alive. Many of you have already seen what these creatures are capable of doing, so for that reason I am not order you to abandon ship. I am asking that you stay on the Saratoga, and stand your post. Fight hand to hand if you have to. Our Nuclear engineers and enginemen need time to get the engines up to full speed so we can ram the vessel. Upon impact I have ordered the complete destruction of the Saratoga's 8 reactors. Hopefully this will take the enemy with us. I know that you were planning on going home and turning Sara into a museum in a couple of months, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen now. Say good bye to one another, if you believe in God pray to him and let's show these things what they get for messing with the US Navy. It has been my honor to serve with each and every one of you. As far as I am concerned, all of you are the real heroes of this war. Macy out."

As the Saratoga impacted with the Borg Vessel the computer ignited the 8 nuclear reactors on board the ship. Lynn's last sight was seeing the island of the Saratoga being turned into a thousand little pieces, and with one last gasp of life, the Saratoga exploded taking most of the Borg vessel with her.


	4. Chapter 3: General Quarters

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own any rights to Star Trek or to the Alcuberri Engine, or any ship name or squadron name. The only rights he owns are his own ideas and the story line

Chapter 3

General Quarters.

As Capt. Logan McDaniel laid back in his rack he took a sip from his cup of coffee that had been served to him earlier, waiting for the dinner bell to be sounded on the ship's 1MC. His chef had promised him his favorite meal this evening, taco salad with all the trimmings. Logan was the youngest captain in the 7th fleet to be in command of a carrier, and especially the newest flagship "USS Hancock SCVAN 30." Logan's family went way back in the Navy with his great, great, great grand-father Tobias McDaniel who served on the first carrier Hancock CVA-19 in the Viet-Nam Conflict. His family was a Navy family, and while most were engineers, Logan was the first to be offered a command of his own.

Hanna (as she is affectionately known by her crew) had a flight deck of 5500 feet in length and 1700 feet in width, and the ship from bottom to the top of the Island was 600 feet. She carried a complement of 8500 crewmen 2200 officers, along with 2500 marines. Her flight deck covers a space of over 15 acres. She is a city in space. She carried the 7th Carrier Air Wing which consisted of 8 squadrons "The Rampagers (VFA-83), The Jolly Rogers, (the fighting 64th,) a.k.a. "Skull Squadron" (VFA-103), "The Wildcats," (VFA-131), The "Pukin Dogs" (VFA-143), The "Bluetails" (VAW-121), The "Patriots" (VAQ-140), The "Rawhides" (VRC-40), and The "Nightdippers" (HS-5).

She carried 8 E-2C Hawkeyes flown by the Bluetails, and 70 F-22 Raptors, flown by the Jolly Rogers and Pukin Dogs. She had 40 EA-30 Prowlers flown by the Patriots, 3 C-2C Greyhound flown by the Rawhides, 70 F-35 Lighting II fighters flown by the Rampagers and the Wildcats, and 30 Star-Wolf Shuttles (which looked much like the Bell 222 helicopter minus the rotors), flown by the Nightdippers for rescue and transfers. Though the Star-Wolf was basically used for rescue and transfers, it carried sidewinder and bull-pub missiles in its underbelly and it had twin chain guns on the tip of each wing, so it could be used in a combat situation if necessary.

Hanna had five launch tubes from which her birds were launched, coming out the bow of the ship, four for the fighters and one for the C2C and E2's, which was larger than the other four. The aftend of the flight deck was open as well as was the angle deck. This was the receiving bay. It was also used to launch the Starwolf's and sometimes the F-35's

She was armed with four five inch quick repeating canons, two on each side, one forward and one aft. She was armed with four Phalanx's, one on each side, one forward, one aft. In front of the Island she was armed with one 9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns. It also had guided missiles "Flight I: 90 cell Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) Flights II and IIA: 96 cell Mk 41 VLS BGM-109 Tomahawk RIM-66M Standard medium range SAM (has an ASuW mode). All in all the Hancock was one of the greatest fighting machines the US Navy had ever built. She was the second carrier to bear the name and she bore it proudly.

As the captain laid there in his rack he listened to the calls coming in from the bridge giving instructions to the ship when all of a sudden the sound came across which strikes fear into the heart of every sailor: a shrill whistle of a Boatswain's whistle then the words: **"Now Hear This! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations!" Starboard side up and forward, port side down and aft. Move it people, this is not a drill. Set condition Zebra throughout the ship! All departments check in with DC Central!**" The Alarm continued to clang with the words of the officer of the bridge continued to be repeated very loud and very strong. The captain picked up his phone and pushed the button for the bridge: "Bridge," he heard the voice of yeoman Shelley Meyers say, a seasoned sailor who had the nerves of steel. It was comforting to know that she was on the bridge because he wasn't sure some of these kids could handle a real emergency. "Meyers" he said "why are we at General Quarters?"

Meyers spoke and said "Captain, we just received word from the Saratoga and they are under attack." Capt. McDaniel asked: "By who? Is it the Comms? Is it the Romulans? Who is attacking her?"

Intel had picked up Comm traffic in the section of space that the Saratoga was patrolling, and it was always a problem that every skipper knew to be on the lookout for. While the Comms no longer had a national force like they once had they did have smaller ships that were effective in guerrilla hit and run attacks. Some of them were effective even against carriers. And while the Romulans had not been heard from in 20 years, there was always that threat. Meyers continued: They were unclear sir, so the Cmdr. Williams went to GQ. "Fine, I'll be there momentarily" he replied.

With that the captain picked up his jacket, went for the door and opened it to find his Marine Guards standing there waiting for him with pistols drawn in protection mode as they had done so many times before. The captain allowed one Marine to lead the way while the other picked up the tail. If there was ever an easy time to assassinate the captain of a ship, GQ would be the time; when everyone is running around (many of them blindly for the first time). For this reason he had an armed guard in front and one behind him all the way to the bridge; men who were sworn to die to protect his life, much like the Secret Service Agents do for the President.

As he stepped on to the bridge he heard "Captain's on the Bridge!" and all stood at attention. He quietly said "As you were!" He never did like the pomp that was given to the captain because he had seen it abused many times by so many captains, but he understood that it was necessary to keep respect for command.

He walked over to the Captain's chair and sat down in it, picking up the phone of the squawk box (aka Ship's 1MC) he pushed the button for C-I-C (Combat Information Center) and heard a voice on the other end: "Lt. Cmd Raynard."

Capt. McDaniel spoke into the receiver "Cmd. What is the status of the Saratoga?" Raynard replied with, "Sir: We only received the initial message, requesting help. We have requested permission from CTF to investigate on the authority of Commander Williams." "Any word from Command?" he asked. "Not yet sir!" Raynard said. McDaniel then said "Okay, let me know the minute it comes in." "Aye Sir: CIC Out."

The Captain replaced the receiver back into its holder and looked around the bridge. So many young people were looking at him with total fear in their eyes. They were at GQ for the first time. Then there were the old Salt's like Meyer's who rarely broke sweat as she stood there looking out the window at the stars. He looked at the Helmsman, Mike Makin, a tried veteran and gave the order: "Helm, plot a course for the Saratoga and engage at full speed." Makin began making the computations and moved the lever forward to full to let Engineering know that they were being required to push the main engines to full speed. Makin had also been with McDaniel for a while and he also knew that if and when the order came, sub-light engines weren't going to cut it. He asked: Will we be needing the FTL's Captain? The captain replied, "Get them ready." Makin replied "Aye Sir," and began making the computations necessary. He also informed the ship of the possibility of going to FTL speed. The Hancock was the first Carrier to successfully be built with faster than light engines. She had her main engines which were much like the ones on the standard carriers, then she had the FTL technology which allowed her to exceed the speed of light by bending and folding space.

While the Speed of Light seems to be fast it has its problems because of the fact that time slows down (known as time dilation) for travelers while the Alcubierre changed the geometry of space by creating a wave which would cause the fabric of space ahead of a spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand. The ship would then ride this wave inside a region of flat space known as a warp bubble, and would not move within this bubble, but instead be carried along as the region itself moves as a consequence of the actions of the drive. This way time dilation would not apply as it would in the case of conventional light speed engines.

Commander Marsha Williams was his 2nd in command and she knew what he would want done in this or any other situation, so she had taken it upon herself to send the message. They had served together for the last 8 years and they knew each other better than they knew themselves and he had full confidence in her ability. Commander Williams was a direct descendant of the tribal chief "Cloud Williams" who was the leader of the Yangs, and the first President of the United States after the war ended in 2262

Some of the bridge crew were unnerved at her taking such a responsibility because they did not know the captain or his relation to his first officer. And they became more unnerved when the Captain decided to head towards the Saratoga without Command's approval. But McDaniel knew that time was of the essence in matters like this and while he felt sure that Command would authorize it, he needed to be as far as possible when they got the authorization. If they wanted to court-martial him for it later, that was fine, he was going to save lives and possibly the ship.

He heard a whining sound from the 1MC, it was CIC: "CIC to Bridge!" It was Lt. Cmd. Raynard. "Go ahead, CIC" Raynard spoke "Captain the mission is a go, you have authorization to assist the Saratoga in whatever way she needs help." "Bridge out" McDaniel said.

Capt. McDaniel glanced at Makin and said "Helm input course and engage FTL's. To which Makin replied: "Course set, FTL computer is set. FTL engaged."

Capt. McDaniel felt a slight pressure on his body and in his ears, as the FTL's kicked in, and in a flood of lights, the Hancock went zipping through space leaving nothing but a stream in her wake.


	5. Chapter 4: Too Little Too Late

**Disclaimer: **The author claims no ownership to Star Trek or any of it's characters. He only claims ownership to his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 4

Too Little Too Late

As they came out of hyperspace they were suddenly hit the debris field left by the Saratoga and the Borg vessel. Logan bowed his head because he knew that his friend Lynn Macy was lost. A piece of the island floated by the windows on the bridge, large enough that you could see part of the numbering 18. Other pieces of the carrier were also visible as well. It was not a pretty sight. One of the new sailors gasped "what could have caused a carrier to explode like that?" The captain slowly turned and looked at the young man and quietly said "the captain." "She saw that it was her only way out, so she caused the ship to self-destruct."

"CIC, scan for any survivors, and let me know if you find any" McDaniel ordered. With that he walked back to his chair with a heavy heart knowing that he was going to have to make a condolence call to Admiral Macy about his late wife. "What could have gone wrong?" he kept thinking…"what would be so terrible that it would cause an experienced Carrier Captain to self-destruct her own ship just two months from retirement?

He began to think back of the time when Lynn Macy recommended him for the Naval Academy, for command on the Pennsylvania, and for command of the Hancock. The Macy's and the McDaniel's had been thick as thieves for many years, as Logan's dad was the chief engineer on Tom Macy's destroyer (The USS Seattle). Logan knew that one day he would attend her funeral, but he didn't think it would be this soon. He was wounded, he was hurt, and he was angry. But those were emotions that he had to hide for the moment because his crew needed to see him functioning as a captain, not as an ordinary human. He turned and spoke in a soft but firm voice, "I want answers and I want them soon. So everyone get busy." It was then that everyone returned to normal and went to work doing their jobs.

Yeoman Meyers handed him a cup of coffee, he smiled and took it from her thanking her for it. She said in a low soft voice "Whatever it was Captain, I am sure she had good reason. You knew her and you know she wouldn't do something like this without just cause. We just need to find that cause." "Thank you Shelley" he said.

Capt. McDaniel picked up the receiver and pushed the button for CIC and spoke: "Bridge to CIC" "CIC" came the reply from the other end. "What have you picked up?" "Nothing, Captain, no survivors, no enemy, nothing." "Thank you. Bridge out" and with that he pushed the button for the entire ship and said: "This is the captain speaking, as of today; the USS Saratoga has been destroyed. How? Why? It doesn't really matter now. We are at war with an enemy much more advanced than any enemy we have ever faced. Do your job, stand your post, trust your shipmate, and mourn the dead later. We have a war to fight. Stand down from General Quarters, Set condition 3 throughout the ship. The smoking lamp is lit in all authorized areas. But be ready to go back to GQ in a moment's notice. Have the air wing standing by and ready to launch in a moment's notice. All department heads meet in my ready room at 1700 Hrs. That is all."

He looked at his first officer and said "notify command and let them know what's happened. Tell the CAG to get a Hawkeye out there, and a fighter cap of two raptors. Meanwhile I'll be in my cabin." "Yes sir" she said. As he moved towards the hatch leading to the passage way, he stopped and said "And tell them I'll notify Admiral Macy myself. I'm his friend; I should be the one to do it." She said "Yes sir." With this he continued on to his cabin and as he walked he began to wonder how he was going to tell Admiral Macy about the death of his wife. How could he possibly soften the blow that was surely to fall upon the Admiral upon receiving news of the fate of his wife. As he approached his cabin he found his guards standing at attention, one on each side of the door. He opened the door and went in. After taking off his jacket he picked up the cup of coffee he had been sipping on before the ship when to GQ, it was cold by this time (He had left the one Meyers gave him on the bridge, on the bridge), and took a sip from it. "Aggh, I hate cold coffee, I gotta get a small pot for my quarters" he thought. Coffee was the lifeline on every ship a fact well known by every sailor. If you didn't drink coffee you weren't in the Navy. A Sailor's blood has a brownish tint to it from all the coffee they drink.

After some time had gone by he heard the whirring of the 1MC. It was CIC and he heard "CIC to Captain McDaniel." "This is the Captain." "This is Andersen sir; our people have recovered something that we thought you might want to know about. It isn't part of the Saratoga, but it looks to be part of a ship…could be part of the other ship." "Where is it?" he asked. The CIC officer said "They are bringing it in sir. It is quite large so we have to use a tractor beam to bring it into the Angle Launch Bay." "Fine, I'll be there momentarily" McDaniel said.

With that he turned, picked up his jacket and put it back on and opened the door. Immediately both Marines returned to attention from Parade Rest. He said "You two come with me." They accompanied him to the forward landing bay which was usually used by Lightning II's and the Star-Wolf Shuttles to land since they did not have arresting gear. The rear landing bay was used more for the Raptors, and other planes which used arresting hooks. As they made their way through the maze of passage ways, hatches and ladders, they finally came to the hatch for the forward landing bay.

On the hatch in big Red letters were the words "BEWARE OF BLAST." This was something that anyone working around a hanger deck needed to be aware of. No one was allowed on deck while receiving planes and shuttles because of the engine blast. All it would take is just one second of blast to fry someone to a crisp. The fire fighters stood by in fire-resistant suits on their P-25 Fire Fighting vehicles which would carry crew members and equipment.

Another sign was "BEWARE OF LASERS" as the laser of the tractor beams could cut a human in half in a second flat. So for those two reasons the Captain and his company stayed behind the closed hatch until the derelict had been brought aboard and secured.

When the deck chief (Chief Fallon) gave the all clear the marine in front, SSgt Mathers, opened up the hatch and the three of them stepped through. Upon entering they immediately heard "Captain on deck!" He looked and said softly "As you were," and everyone relaxed.

What he saw in front of him was like nothing he had ever seen. The piece was almost as high as the ceiling of the hanger deck and was about 24 x 12 feet in width and length. It was constructed of a greenish metallic substance he had never seen before, and there were pipes going everywhere. They came to what appeared to be a hatch and so upon his orders they started trying to open it.

The deck crew started in on it with hammers and crowbars, but they weren't having much luck. They suddenly heard a loud whirring noise and the hatch opened. The two marine guards sprang to attention and drew their weapons. The deck chief called for a light and when it was given to him he shined the light inside. He found what looked to be a cybernetic drone which looked to be part human and part machine. Its skin was milky white as it would be if he was dead. However, he was still functioning, so he couldn't be dead. His left eye had been replaced with some kind of a vision aperture, and his right arm had been replaced with a metal prosthesis from his elbow down to his wrist, and where the hand should be there was what looked to be a welding tip. His head, body and legs were covered with metal. He had metal implants throughout his body. A little Arial antenna on the top of his head, that resembled a miniature satellite dish, began to turn, first to the right, then to the left and he opened his right eye and stepped off of the pad he had been standing on.

"Wh…wh…what do ya think he is?" uttered one of the crew members. "Do ya suppose he is some sort of worker, sort of like a ship fitter, I mean look at that welder tip on his right arm?" "I suppose so" muttered the chief. The marine guards came to the front with weapons drawn and ordered the creature to stop advancing. However, he just kept coming. When he got to the hatch they open fired dropping the creature where he stood. The deck chief scream: "Did you have to do that? It hadn't hurt anyone!" "No, and I wasn't going to give it the chance to either" stated the marine SSgt who took the first shot. He then turned to the Captain who gave him an approving look.

The Captain told the deck Chief "Look Chief, I realize that this is your deck, but this thing helped take down the Saratoga, and that isn't something that I want to fool around with. He had my full authority to do what he did. "But…suppose it was just a worker, not a soldier?" replied the Chief. "It makes no difference, it helped take down a carrier and that isn't something that I want to fool around with. It was warned and it kept coming. There will be no more discussion on the matter. Get cybernetics down here and see what they can figure out about it. If it is human, I want to know it."

With that he and his marines walked off. As he got halfway across the deck he stopped and said, "Chief, if you find any more of those things, kill them if they don't cooperate, I don't want them taking over the Hancock." Then he turned to SSgt Mathers and said "Get a small detachment down here immediately." "Right away sir" Mathers replied, and Captain McDaniel and Corp. Mitchell went back to the Captain's cabin while SSgt Mathers phoned in the Captain's orders.


	6. Chapter 5: The Call We All Fear

**Disclaimer**: This author holds no rights to Star Trek nor any of its characters. He only holds rights to his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 5

The Call We All Fear

There is one call we all fear. For most that is the call which comes in the middle of the night, from the police or maybe a family member telling us that someone we loved has passed away. For most of us, we are expecting it because the call usually comes about a sick relative or friend. However, there is a call that terrifies everyone and that one call is the call that Capt. McDaniel now had to make by video to Admiral Macy.

It was 1600 Hrs. when Capt. McDaniel sat down to talk to Admiral Macy. Admiral Macy came on the view screen: Admiral Macy chuckled "Good grief boy, here you are the skipper of the Navy's Pride and Joy and yet you take the time to call me? What gives?"

Tears came into McDaniel's eyes and he said, "There's no easy way to say this. We got a distress call from the Saratoga a little while ago, and by the time we got here we found that the ship had been destroyed."

Admiral Macy gasped for air, and tears came into his eyes. He said "Are…are you trying to tell me that my Lynn is de…dead?" Capt. McDaniel slowly said "Yes sir that is what I am telling you." "Have you found her body, I mean are you absolutely sure?" Macy asked.

Capt. McDaniel started trying to explain, "She went up against a more powerful enemy…" "I don't care what she went up against…have you found the body?" Admiral Macy broke in. "Sir, that's what I am trying to tell you. From what we can find we concluded that she ordered the ship to self-destruct. All we have found were pieces, but the field is definitely large enough for the Saratoga and her assailant." "So she got her attacker then? Who was it, the Comms?" Macy inquired. McDaniel said "No sir, it was definitely not the Comms. The Comms don't have anything that could have done this. It was something else. We found parts of the enemy ship along with at least one cybernetic being and we're bringing it back to Command for inspection.

McDaniel softly spoke, "I'm so sorry Tom, I know that you and Lynn were planning on her retiring in two months. I just wish that this could have happened in two months from now and she would be safe."

The admiral began to cry and shake his head back and forth and said "No...No…No…you don't understand. She could have retired three months ago when I did, but she allowed Command to talk her into staying on the Saratoga until they decommissioned her."

That was something that Logan had not known. Now he had someone else to be angry with: Command Task Force. Why did they have to talk her into staying on? They could have let Richards take charge the last five months and Lynn would have lived. His guess was that the Politians probably thought that having Lynn as the last skipper of the Saratoga would make things look better. And with her being a patriotic person they knew which buttons to push to get her to stay. He thought: "Politians are always mankind's greatest problem, no matter what century they serve in."

Logan said, "I'm sorry sir, I wasn't aware of that. I'll see you when I get back to San Francisco, but in the meantime what can I do for you?"

Admiral Macy quietly said "Nothing really. Our arrangements were taken care of well in advance, and with her body being lost there isn't much that can be done. I guess I'd better start calling the kids. They're gonna want to know. Macy out."

The monitor went dark and Logan left his desk and laid down on his rack to try and make sense of what had taken place that day. How could someone so full of life so suddenly be taken away? It reminded him of the song that he learned in church "The Life of a Flower" usually sang at funerals about how life is like the life of a flower which appeared for a little while then withered away. He had heard countless ministers and Navy Chaplains quote James 4:4 "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

Logan was raised up as a conservative in the churches of Christ and was taught from the King James Bible of 1611 (one of the few versions to make it through the final two world wars). His brother Andrew was a Chaplin on the USS Alabama, a Torpedo/missile ship. Both were sons of a preacher who had spent 4 years on active duty in the Navy. He knew just how short life really was, but he was not prepared for this. This was definitely a call that he wished he had not had to make, nor wanted to make. He wished that he could just go to sleep, and wake up the next morning and everything be perfectly normal again. He would give up anything for that to happen.

As he laid there he drifted off into a fitful sleep when a shrill whirring came from the 1MC: "Bridge to Captain McDaniel."

McDaniel picked up the receiver and said "Go ahead Bridge." "Sir, it is 1700 and the department heads are in your ready room as ordered sir." "Thank you, I'll be there momentarily. McDaniel Out."

As he made his way to the door the two guards snapped to attention and he waved them off and made his way towards the bridge. He stepped through the hatch and headed towards the briefing room. Just outside the door he could hear the deck chief arguing, and Marsha came out and said "he's full of fire today about Mathers shooting that thing today. "I'll take care of this right now" McDaniel said. He entered the room and before someone could say "Captain on deck" he said "as you were." Not that Chief Fallon cared, for he was still on the rampage about Mathers shooting that creature in his hanger deck.

Captain McDaniel calmly said "Brody, you and I have known each other a long time, and I have always considered you a friend and a valued member of my team, which is why I brought you over from the Pennsylvania, and I respect your opinion in all things, but right now I need you to sit down and be quiet about the shooting this afternoon.

Chief Fallon was not the type of man to be called out even by the Captain. He said "Captain why are the Marines given Carte Blanche on this ship? You just allowed them to kill a creature that hadn't done anything to you." "Hadn't done anything Chief?" McDaniel retorted "It helped take out a carrier with over seven thousand men and women on it. Does that not bother you? It helped destroy the Saratoga in an unprovoked attack…"but how do you know that the attack was unprovoked Sir?" Chief Fallon broke in. Captain McDaniel started to speak, but then he stopped and chose his words carefully and worked to keep his voice down. Then, after what seemed like an eternity to all in the room, he said in a low voice: "Because I have known Lynn Macy since I was 10 years old, and she is not the type of woman to start a fight with anyone over anything and especially being out here without her battle group. And if that ship had given her any chance at all to avoid a confrontation, she would have taken it and you can take that to the bank. This meeting is adjourned until 0900 tomorrow where we will pick up and discuss what we have learned at that time. Dismissed."

As everyone began to file out of the room Commander Williams spoke to Chief Fallon and said, "You need to come to my quarters immediately, understand?" He said "Yes sir." When everyone vacated the room Logan and Marsha were alone and Logan asked her to go easy on him because he was a good man, he was just very emotional. She said "as you wish," and departed.

Yeoman Meyers came in and said "Sir we picked up the Log Buoy from the Saratoga, and thought you might want to view it, and also the Alabama is coming up astern with the Seattle. He said "thanks, I'll get to it after I eat." He had been expecting taco salad, but he knew that with GQ going on and all that followed that there was little chance that he was going to get it. He made his way to the Captain's Mess and saw Marsha standing there.

Logan teasingly asked "Did you go easy on him?" "Well, I warned him about insubordination, but I also told him that he was getting off easy because it is what you wanted" she said.

He grinned and then said "Thanks; ready to eat (she had a standing invitation to dine with the Captain)?" "I'm starved, what are we having?" she inquired.

"Well Taco salad was on the menu, but with all that has happened I am not sure we will get that. Probably chicken soup."

They were both chuckling when the chef came out carrying two heaping helpings of taco salad. He said "As Promised." Williams said "Woo…someone around here is bucking for promotion." They all three laughed and the chef left while the Captain and his first officer enjoyed their meal together. When they finished, Logan invited Marsha to his cabin to view the Log Buoy from the Saratoga.


	7. Chapter 6: Seven Of Twelve

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own Star Trek or any of its names or characters. He only owns his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 6

Seven of Twelve

Under normal circumstances Seven of Twelve, Tertiary Adjunct Unimatrix Five Two Five would wake up in her regeneration alcove refreshed hearing the voices of the thousands of drones aboard her cube. However, for some reason, all she heard was quietness. It was a quietness that she had not heard since she had been assimilated from the USS Tombaugh (NCC-3853), in 2362. Biologically she was a hybrid of the Katarin Species, Species Number 6961 and the Human Species, Species Number 5618, but none of that mattered now because now she was Borg. But she was confused…"why are we silent?" she wondered. "Why are there no voices?" "What has happened to stop all processes?" There were only two possibilities: (A) she had been captured and had been disconnected from the Hive Mind and this was some sort of hologram program that she was in, or (B) the cube had been destroyed to the point that there wasn't much of it left. If "B" was the correct answer then there was no telling what she was going to find if she opened the sliding door in front of her. Would she be floating in space? If so, how long would she be there? The only thing that she knew to do was to start making as many repairs as she could to the ship and try to contact Unimatrix Five Two Five.

It wasn't easy to concentrate with no other voices in her head, but she made a choice to go to work. She decided to open the door and when she did she found that she had opened the door to a very large and well lit room. She could see humans off in a corner arguing about something. She snuck off the derelict and hid in the shadows in the corner. It wasn't long until the group of humans left leaving only one female there by herself. Seven of Twelve slowly walked up behind the female and when she got close enough the assimilation tubes extracted from her left hand, went around the female's neck and caught her in the throat. The female suddenly turned around and tried to scream, but she couldn't. She tried to fight, but she couldn't. Seven of Twelve pushed her against the wall and held her there until the assimilation process was complete. When the female had received all of the nanites that she needed to be assimilated Borg implants began to appear on her skin.

Seven of Twelve told her, "You are designated as 'Eight of Twelve' do you understand?" Petty Officer Franklin coughed and gagged and finally said, "I understand, what do you want?" Seven of Twelve responded with "We have to get to a communication station and send a message to Unimatrix Five Two Five to let the others know that the Cube has been destroyed. Take us to a communication station." Eight of Twelve said "It isn't that easy, only people with security clearance are allowed in the CIC." Seven of Twelve asked "What is CIC?" Eight of Twelve responded with "CIC stands for Combat Information Center, and the only people allowed there are people that the Captain knows and people who have security clearance." Seven of Twelve asked "How can we get security clearance? Eight of Twelve responded "We can't, that is just the point. I am simply a petty officer 3rd class working on the flight deck."

Seven of Twelve thought for a few minutes and then asked "Do you have a berthing quarters?" Franklin admitted that she did and Seven of Twelve ordered her to take her to it. With that the two drones went off towards the passage way leading to Petty Officer Franklin's berthing quarters. As they entered the passage way two armed Marines came around the corner and came to attention aiming their weapons at the two drones. One of them knew Franklin, and he said "Franklin, what has happened to you? Why are you with this thing?" Franklin started towards him extending her hand and as she did her assimilation tubes extracted. Franklin had not been fully assimilated and was still in partial control of her emotions and she screamed: "Agathon, don't let us touch you, we are dangerous, run, run." This is when both marines began to run. They locked the next hatch and Cpl Agathon picked up the sound powered phone and notified the Bridge of their situation. Lt. Halsey was on duty on the Bridge. When he received the message he notified the Marine detachment to get to Agathon's location immediately.

Capt. McDaniel and Cmd. Williams were deep into watching the log buoy for the Saratoga when they heard the shrill sound of the boatswain's whistle followed by "Now Hear This! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations!" Starboard side up and forward, port side down and aft. Avoid frames 145-150 of deck 15. This is not a drill. Set condition Zebra throughout the ship! All departments check in with DC Central!" Logan and Marsha looked at each other with fear in their eyes wondering what was coming next. They immediately got up and headed for the door. When they opened it they found the two guards ready to escort them to the bridge.

Upon arriving on the Bridge, Marsha went to her GQ station at CIC and Logan relieved Lt. Halsey. All departments checked in sir, Halsey said. "Fine, now why are we at General Quarters? And what is going on on deck 15?" "Sir Cpl Agathon called in and said that one of those things that SSgt Mathers killed this afternoon was loose on the ship and it had Petty Officer Franklin with it." He continued "They have them locked on deck 15 between frames 145 and 150." "Alright," McDaniel said, "has it hurt Petty Officer Franklin?"

Halsey replied with "I don't know, all I know is what I have been told." McDaniel quickly retorted "How did it get that close to one of my people? Why didn't the marine detachment take it out on the hanger deck?"

Halsey didn't know what to say, and he began to stutter "I..I..I d..d..don't know sir, I just know what I…I have been told. McDaniel picked up the receiver to the 1MC and pushed the button for the section where the call came from.

Marine Captain John Wilson replied "Wilson here." McDaniel asked "Captain what is your situation and how is my petty officer?" Wilson replied: Sir, your petty officer is well on her way to becoming one of those things. They can some how assimilate you and make you become one of them. We have them trapped between frames 145 and 150 and there are no sensitive systems there so I believe we have the situation contained for now.

With anger in his voice McDaniel sharply asked "How did they get that far? Why didn't your detachment take that thing out before it got to Franklin?" Wilson began: "According to SSgt Mathers, Chief Fallon came in and told him that during the staff meeting you had agreed that there was no more danger and so he ordered them to take off, and they did."

McDaniel: Well, Capt. I guess we know that there is still a danger, and as far as Chief Fallon goes, I will take care of him later, but suffice it to say I said no such thing. Do what you can to save Franklin, but save this ship. Wilson replied "Understood, Wilson out."

A hatch opened and something came through carrying a hand weapon. As Seven of Twelve began to defend herself it raised the hand weapon and fired. Seven of Twelve felt a sharp sting in her neck, and then felt drowsy and finally blacked out.

When she opened her eyes she was strapped down to a table like bed, her arms were outstretched and she had straps around her wrists, elbows, biceps, head, throat, abdomen, thighs, knees, calves and ankles.

She knew that there was something terribly wrong. People were standing over her and…could it be? No…Yes…they were taking mechanical parts off of her. She started to say something, but found that her mouth had been propped open. All she could do was to lay there and wait for her captors to finish extracting what they wanted to extract. A shot was given her and she blacked out again.

She awoke and found herself in a soft bed that was slightly tilted upward in the back. However, she was still strapped down around her wrists, elbows abdomen legs and feet. She could speak however.

Seven of Twelve screamed "What have you done?" The marine guard that was assigned to watch her didn't budge. He didn't look at her, he didn't move a muscle.

Again Seven of Twelve screamed "What have you done?" At that moment Capt. McDaniel and the doctor came around the curtain. McDaniel said "Good you're awake, now maybe you can answer some questions for me, and if you give me satisfactory answers I will tell you what we have done to you."

Seven of Twelve said "Fair enough, what do you want to know?" McDaniel said "I want to know why your ship attacked the Saratoga yesterday?"

Seven of Twelve replied: The Saratoga was destroyed at Wolf 359, in 2362 it was a fair fight. You had 40 star ships and we only had one. "What are babbling about? The Saratoga was destroyed yesterday and it was the only ship present other than your ship. I viewed the ship's log and they did nothing to provoke you into firing upon them" McDaniel said in a loud and stern voice.

Seven of Twelve looked at the two men then she quietly retorted "You humans lie! You think we don't remember your battles?" "What battles?" McDaniel asked "We have never seen you people before yesterday, and first contact was the destruction of the USS Saratoga SCVAN 18."

SCVAN 18? That was a new one, one that Seven of Twelve knew nothing of. The only Saratoga she knew of was the USS Saratoga (NCC-31911) that was destroyed at Wolf 359 on the day that she had been assimilated with the rest of the Tombaugh in 2362

The captain stormed out of the room and all was quiet.


	8. Chapter 7: Unwelcome Duty

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own Star Trek or anything connected to it. He only owns his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 7

_Sixteen Hours Earlier_

Unwelcome Duty

On the bridge Capt. McDaniel waited to hear the results of the Marines work in trying to bring down the intruder and save Franklin and the ship. Within 10 minutes he heard the whirring of the 1MC. He picked up the receiver and pushed the receive button. It was Capt. Wilson who informed him that they had tranquilized both Franklin and the intruder and were taking them to a secure location in cybernetics where they could be tested and guarded. Capt. McDaniel gave the order to strap them down good and if they tried to get away to kill them.

McDaniel gave the order "Secure from General Quarters, set condition 3. Set the watch. Chief Fallon report the briefing room."

When Chief Fallon walked through the door, McDaniel and Williams were sitting at the far end of the table. McDaniel said "Chief I am going to read you your rights: "Pursuant to Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice (Section 831 of Title 10, United States Code), you have a right against self-incrimination and an entitlement to be informed of the suspected offense(s) before questioning begins. You also have the right to counsel before any questioning begins. Do you understand these rights?"

Chief Fallon said "I do, and I know what this is about…" McDaniel quickly broke in "Don't interrupt me when I am talking. When I want you to talk I will ask you to. Do you understand?" Chief Fallon quickly replied with: "Yes sir."

Trying hard to regain his composure the captain quietly said "Chief you are being charged with disobeying my direct order, counter-manding my order to have a marine detachment on the hanger bay in case anymore of those creatures were found, and you told SSgt Mathers, after you left this room at 17oo Hrs. yesterday evening that I had given permission to lift that security detail when you know that I did no such thing. Do you have anything to say in your defense before I formally charge you? And before you answer I want you to know that if petty officer Franklin dies, you will be charged with 2nd degree murder."

Chief Fallon thought for a moment and said "I believe I would like to speak with counsel sir." McDaniel then said "Fine!" and called the Master at Arms (Chief Petty Officer Melone) in. When Malone arrived, he said "Take Chief Fallon into custody, process him and place him in the brig under the Marines." He then said "Charge him with disobedience of a lawful order of a superior officer, counter-manding an order of a superior officer, and if petty officer Franklin dies, charge him with 2nd degree murder."

Chief Malone said "Yes sir!" With that he took Chief Fallon into custody and led him away in shame and disgrace. The Captain and 1st officer followed them to the Master at Arm's office to make sure that they got there with no reprisals from the deck crew.

"Captain McDaniel please come to cybernetics. Captain McDaniel, please come to cybernetics." Logan and Marsha walked down the corridor to the cybernetics lab where the Borg drone and petty officer Franklin had been taken, and the captain was pleased to see that Franklin was laying there with her eyes opened talking to the people working with her. The first words out of her mouth were, "…sorry about all the trouble Captain, I should have gone when Chief Fallen told us all to leave, but you said you wanted to have someone there watch that piece and I just didn't think it was right to leave it there totally unguarded."

In a soft voice McDaniel said "Don't you ever apologize for that again. You stood your post even though it nearly cost you your life. I am going to see that you get a medal for this."

Franklin continued "Captain, SSgt Mathers didn't want to go, but Chief Fallon out-ranked him and he made them go." McDaniel assured her "I know, I know. Don't you worry about it one bit all will be taken care of in good time. You just rest and get well so you can get back out there on that deck. We need you there." "Yes sir" Franklin said as she gripped the captain's hand and then let it go and laid back on the table.

The technician said "we got all of the major nanites out of her and we have given her a Nano-virus to kill the rest so she should be good as new in a week or so. We are going to transfer her to sick bay in about an hour and then she will be able to get some rest." McDaniel asked "What about the other one?"

Technician Boyd slowly said "That's a tough one. We're not even sure that she is human. She looks human, but there are some features that are different without the implants such as these spikes on her forehead, so we just aren't sure about this. We think we are going to have to physically remove some of the larger implants before we give her a shot of the virus, and even then we don't know how it is going to affect her."

Technician Boyd continued "Now the one that SSgt Mathers killed yesterday is human or at least was human, but we ran his prints through the data base and we don't find him registered anywhere. It's like he exists, but he doesn't exist."

Cmd. Williams asked "That female, is there any chance that she said anything to Franklin?" Shaking his head McDaniel said "I don't know, but I don't want to bother her about it right now."

At that moment petty officer Franklin, who had been listening in, weakly spoke out and said "Captain, she called herself Seven of Twelve and she told me that I was Eight of Twelve." "Does that make any sense to you at all?" McDaniel said "No, it doesn't. Did she happen to say anything else?" Franklin thought for a minute and said "I think she said something about getting to a communications station and calling something called Unimatrix Five Two Five to tell them that the cube had been destroyed. There are so many things floating around in my head that I don't know, so I will just have to wait until I can remember everything."

With that she went to sleep, and the captain and his first officer left the room. They headed back to talk to talk to technician Boyd about the first intruder. Boyd said "We are getting ready to see if we can remove some of these cybernetic implants from the female. Would you like to stay and watch?" McDaniel said "No, just make sure she is strapped down good and tight." And with that he and Cmd. Williams left the room and headed back to the bridge.

In the Master at Arm's office Chief Malone was processing Chief Fallon as ordered. Fallon started making excuses for his action.

Malone sharply said "Look if you have something to say you need to write it down on paper and give it to your counsel, but whatever you tell me can and will be used against you in your court-martial. Fallon broke in with "Look doesn't it bother you that he allowed that grunt to kill that creature without so much as question as to what it's motives were?"

Malone sat back in his chair and said "Brody…listen to me, and listen to me real good. You have gotten quite a chip on your shoulder that is weighing you down, and you have been trying to start a fight with a man who has had nothing but respect and admiration for you. I just don't get it. The Old Man hasn't done anything to hurt you. He lets you be you and he expects you to let him be him. So what is it with you lately?"

Fallon said, "I don't like it that we have 1500 grunts on board this ship, and I don't think it was right to execute that creature, a creature we know nothing of. And I don't like gunfire on my hanger deck. He wants people to think he is such a great guy, but he is nothing more than a blood thirsty conservative."

Malone: So that's the reason you disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer? Is that why you lied and ordered a marine detail off of that derelict that the Captain had put on as a security detail? You don't like the Marines being aboard, and you don't like gunfire on the hanger deck, and you think he is blood thirsty? Is that the defense you intend to go to command with? Man they'll put you in prison for sure."

Fallon said "Listen man it was people just like McDaniel that started the last two world wars, and probably the first two. Three billion people died in WWIII, and people with so called High Moral Beliefs were right at the heart of it."

Malone sharply retorted "Man the North Koreans started WWIII when they launched against the U.K.,. The American President, at that time, was a liberal that people like you voted for. What I am saying is that WWIII had nothing to do with people like the Old Man. It had to do with the AXIS Alliance wanting to take over the world. I sure hope you come up with a better excuse in your trial than what you have given me." Fallon quietly asked "Are you going to testify against me?" Malone said "Not unless I have to, but I am not going to lie for you. If asked, I will tell what you told me because you were warned not to speak about it."

There was a knock on the door and two marines entered the room to take Fallon to the Brig. Malone said "He's all yours." With that the two marines disappeared down the passage way with Chief Fallon towards the Brig.


	9. Chapter 8: Difficult Decisions

**Disclaimer**: This author holds no claim to Star Trek or any of its characters or names. He only holds ownership to his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 8

Difficult Decisions

Captain McDaniel could not get his head around Chief Fallon deliberately disobeying a direct order and lying to SSgt Mathers. What on earth would make him do such a thing? When he was on the Pennsylvania Chief Fallon was the best deck chief he had ever seen. He upheld the safety of the ship above all else which is why when he was given the Hancock, he wanted Fallon as the deck chief here. And what was that crack about those creatures not doing anything to us about? Something was definitely wrong with him and blinding him to his duties onboard this ship. But, whatever it was, it caused him to violate a direct order; one that had put the ship and fellow ship mates in danger.

He just could not let this go. He had to find out what had happened. He knew that Chief Malone was a friend of Fallon's, so maybe he knew what was going on. He picked up the receiver to the 1MC in his cabin and pushed the button for the Master at Arm's office.

Malone replied "Master at Arms." McDaniel said "Could you please come to my cabin, we need to talk." Malone said "Yes sir." Logan called his galley and ordered a pot of coffee and three cups to be brought to his cabin, then he called the bridge and asked that Cmd. Williams to come to his cabin.

There was a knock at the door, and McDaniel said "Enter." The door opened and Cmd. Williams and his chef was there with the coffee. "Come on in." The chef brought the coffee in and asked if there was anything else, and Logan told him that he would let him know if he needed any more coffee, but for now he was fine.

Cmd. Williams jokingly said "Well, I see three cups and only two people, who else are you expecting?" But McDaniel wasn't in much of a joking mood "I have asked Chief Malone up here, and I wanted you with me while I ask him if he knows anything about what Chief Fallon's problem is." Williams asked "Do you really think he knows what's going on?" McDaniel sighed and said "I don't know, but I know that Chief Fallon started acting funny about three months…" There was a knock at the door…"Enter"…replied the Captain, and the door opened and Chief Malone entered the room. McDaniel stood up and said "Thank you for coming Chief (as he shook his hand), please sit down. Would you like coffee?"

Malone said "Sure, Black straight up, thank you. Is there a problem Captain?" McDaniel calmly said "Chief, this isn't a formal inquiry so please relax. I just wanted to pick your brain on what's been going on with Chief Fallon." Malone nervously said "Look Captain, I don't want to get in the middle of this…really I don't." McDaniel extended his hands in a calming manner and said "I know that, and normally I wouldn't dream of asking, but Chief Fallon has placed the security of this ship at risk, and you are the Chief security officer. So I am asking you what you know about this."

Chief Malone sat there for a moment and thought and then said "Look Captain, I don't know what Chief Fallon's problem is, I know he spouted off something while I was processing him about not wanting so many marines on board, and not like gunfire on the hanger."

McDaniel asked: "Is that all this is about? He doesn't like the marines, and he doesn't like gunfire on the hanger?" No…Chief there has to be something else. There has always been kind of a rift between the Navy and the Marines, and I just don't see that this caused him to do what he did." McDaniel continued "Is there anything that you know of that would cause him to go in opposition to a command?"

Malone sat there and he finally said "he did mention that during processing, really I don't know where he is coming from. I'm really not that close to him, I see him reading stuff in the chief's mess, and I have asked him what he is reading, but all I get is something about something that was written back in the 20th century…so I don't know. I do know that he thinks that people who are conservatives started WWIII. Other than that, I couldn't tell you."

The captain sat there for a few minutes as they drank their coffee in quietness and finally he said "well, I just wanted to know what you knew about this, if anything at all." The Master-At-Arms sat there and said "Will there be anything else sir? Will you need me to testify at the court-martial?"

McDaniel sighed and said "No, I just wanted to see if you knew where this was going. And don't worry, you probably won't need to testify. I just wanted to find out what was going on. Thanks for stopping by chief."

Malone got up and said "No problem Captain, thanks for the coffee." With that Chief Malone left the cabin leaving Logan and Marsha alone.

McDaniel looked at Williams and said "Well, I really don't know anything more than I did before he came in here. I really hate to prosecute him, but I can't trust him again, and he needs to be punished for what he did, and it's not like he can just go to Captain's Mast, he's an E-7 which means he will have to face a General Court-Martial. And I don't get where he ever got the idea that conservatives started WWIII." Shaking his head he got up and walked over to his desk when he heard: "Captain McDaniel please come to Sick Bay. Captain McDaniel please come to Sick Bay."

McDaniel and Williams immediately left the Captain's Cabin and headed towards sick bay. Upon their arrival the doctor met them and told them that the female from the derelict was awake and ready to be questioned. As they approached the area where her bed was they heard her scream "What have you done?" At that moment Capt. McDaniel and the doctor came around the curtain. McDaniel said "Good you're awake, now maybe you can answer some questions for me, and if you give me satisfactory answers I will tell you what we have done to you."

Seven of Twelve said "Fair enough, what do you want to know?" McDaniel said "I want to know why your ship attacked the Saratoga yesterday?"

Seven of Twelve replied: The Saratoga was destroyed at Wolf 359, in 2367 it was a fair fight. You had 40 star ships and we only had one. "What are babbling about?" McDaniel lashed out "The Saratoga was destroyed yesterday and it was the only ship present other than your ship. I viewed the ship's log and they did nothing to provoke you into firing upon them" McDaniel said in a loud and stern voice.

Seven of Twelve looked at the two men then she quietly retorted "You humans lie! You think we don't remember your battles?" "What battles?" McDaniel asked "We have never seen you people before until yesterday, and first contact was with the USS Saratoga SCVAN-18 which you destroyed."

She laid there looking bewildered muttering something about having never heard of the SCVAN. With that Captain McDaniel stormed out of the room and met with Cmd. Williams.

Cmd. Williams asked "What did she tell you?" McDaniel: She babbled something about the Saratoga being destroyed in 2373 and how we had 40 ships to their one. I want you to get a copy of the Saratoga's Log Buoy so we can show it to her. I want her to know that we aren't buying her story." They could hear her screaming again and Dr. Osborn came out and said "Captain, she is causing a fuss in here, could you please come back and answer her questions?"

With that the Captain turned around and headed back into sick bay while Cmd. Williams went to have a copy of the Log Buoy made. On their way Dr. Osborn said "Captain, I was thinking that we could inject her with the same Nano virus we gave to Franklin. I don't know what it would do, but it is worth the risk." McDaniel quickly said "Go ahead."

Captain McDaniel asked the drone " What is it that you want?" Seven of Twelve: What have you done to us? Where is Eight of Twelve? Why can't we hear the others?"

Captain McDaniel wryly said "If by Eight of Twelve, you mean petty officer Franklin, she is recovering nicely; no thanks to you. Within just a little while the Nano-virus we gave her will kill all remaining nanites. As far as the others, I don't know what you are talking about." Seven of Twelve said We are Borg! You cannot just remove the nanites. If you do we won't be able to communicate. We must communicate. Captain McDaniel smartly said "We can, and we did. What's more we removed the external implants from you and now we are going to give you the Nano virus." Seven of Twelve screamed "No, We are Borg, you cannot do that. We are Borg…We are Borg."

The doctor injected the virus into the IV along with a sleep agent which put the creature out. He said, "It will be a couple of hours and she will be more cooperative then."

The Captain nodded, turned and walked out the door. On his way out he called Cmd. Williams and informed her that the intruder was out and what was being done, and that they would talk to her later and show her the recording. He then turned and went to his cabin.


	10. Chapter9:Back To The World Of The Living

**Disclaimer**: This writer has no claim of Star Trek or any of its characters or names. He only claims ownership of his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 9

Back To The World Of The Living

When Nina Lansing opened her eyes it was like she had been living in a dream world. Her head hurt and she felt very weak in her legs and arms. She looked around and saw that she was a hospital or sick bay. The last thing she remembered was the battle at Wolf 359 on the Tombaugh. The Red Alert alarm went off and then everything after that seemed like a blur; or a bad nightmare.

Two men and a woman dressed in odd looking uniforms came in and stood beside her bed. The woman looked like someone in a position of authority. The man in the tan shirt and pants spoke to her:

Capt. McDaniel asked: Can you hear me? Nina then said: Yes! Where am I? Capt. McDaniel said: You are in sick bay onboard the Hancock. I am Captain McDaniel, this is my first officer Commander Marsha Williams and this is one of our ship's doctors, Dr. Boyd.

Nina asked: Hancock? I am on a construction vessel? McDaniel snorted and said: No, you are on the United States Navy's Flagship.

This shocked her because she began to think that she had somehow gone back in time. She said: "United States Navy? Can you please tell me what year this is?"

Captain McDaniel said " It is the year 2402, why do you ask?" Nope, the year was right, maybe a little late, but this was definitely off from what she remembered.

She asked "can you please tell me what has happened to me? I don't remember a whole lot." The captain spoke to her and said "you don't remember saying that you are Borg?" Nina's eyes widened welled up with tears. She said "What…I said I am a Borg am I a Borg now?" The doctor could tell that she was genuinely agitated by her vitals readings on the monitor above her bed. He spoke to the Captain and said "I think she is scared." McDaniel told her to calm down that she was no longer part of that. He informed her about the Nano virus that she had been given. She asked "when did Star Fleet come up with that?" "Star Fleet?" McDaniel asked…"what's that?" Nina said "Star Fleet is what gives you your orders. It is based in San Francisco."

Captain McDaniel and Commander Williams gave each other a puzzling look, and then he said "I've never heard of Star Fleet, and I have been in the Navy since I was 19. Furthermore I take my orders from CTF." "What is CTF" Nina asked? Marsha Williams broke in and said "CTF stands for Command Task Force. It is based in San Francisco, California. It commands the entire fleet just as NORAD commands Earth's Defense Forces.

These people sure did talk funny, Nina thought. CTF, NORAD, United States Navy. She asked "What kind of ship am I on?" Williams replied "You are on a star carrier. The newest and largest in the Navy. It has Faster than Light propulsion."

"Oh my," she thought "they are just now getting around to warp drive?" How effective could they be against the Borg. "You say this is a star carrier, so what does it carry?" "It carries fighters and shuttle craft" the captain replied. "Fighters? What kind of Fighters?" she asked. At that moment Dr. Boyd broke in and said "that is quiet enough she needs her rest." He injected something in her IV and she went back to sleep.

When Nina awoke she began to look around the room she was in. She could hear people talking, someone was laughing and two other people were talking in a low voice. She looked at her hands and arms. They were milky white like someone who was dead or in bad need of a tan. She could see many of her veins, and she could see where implants had been. As she sat there looking at them, she heard a voice say "You should recover nicely you know." She looked up and it was Dr. Boyd. His smile seemed to calm her nerves. He then touched the spikes on her forehead and said "but I don't know how to get rid of these." She chuckled and said "I tried to file them off when I was little, but my mother stopped me telling me it would hurt. Dr. Boyd began inspecting the spikes and said "I've never met a human with a forehead like this." Nina said "that's because I am not fully human, I am only half human. I am also half Ktarian." She continued "my mother is human, but my father is Ktarian." She explained "they are both…or rather were…Star Fleet officers serving aboard the Potemkin when they met, fell in love and got married.

Captain McDaniel came in and saw Nina awake and said "Good, you're awake! How are you feeling?" "I'm fine, I think" Nina replied. "Are you up for a short visit?" McDaniel asked. Nina thought for a couple of seconds and said "sure." The captain pulled up a chair and sat down and said "You asked what a star carrier is and what we carry," he said "I'll tell you what, you tell me all that you know about these Borg and I will tell you everything you want to know about the Hancock. Nina chuckled, and McDaniel asked "what's so funny?" Nina said "nothing, it's just that the last ship that I knew of named Hancock was a construction ship which had limited weaponry." McDaniel looked and said "well I don't know anything about that, but there have only been four other ships to bear the name Hancock in the US Navy, one was a 19th century frigate, the second was a troop transport, the third was a WWII air craft carrier and now this one. And there was a Spruance Class destroyer that had the name USS John Hancock in the 20th century. But none of them had limited weaponry of their day. So what can you tell me about these Borg?

Nina thought and said "Starfleet first encountered them about 40 years ago when an entity called Q sent the Enterprise into the Delta Quadrant. That alerted the Borg to Earth and its allies. Since then the Borg have mercilessly invaded the Alpha Quadrant, even going back in time and trying to stop the flight of the Phoenix by Zephram Cochran in 2063. The only reason Cochran was able to launch the Phoenix and give us warp drive was because the Enterprise followed them back in time and foiled their plans."

McDaniel looked at his first officer and said "Zephram Cochran never launched the Phoenix because a plane from the Eastern Alliance destroyed it. Most of his warp drive plans were saved, but not all. When we tried to use them on the Forrestal, something went wrong and killed around 300 people. We benched faster than light propulsion until we came up with the Albecurri Engine which is what we use now. The Enterprise is just about finished, but not quite; it will be the second ship to have FTL propulsion."

Nina looked around and thought that maybe she had ended up in some kind of alternate universe. Maybe she was in a universe where Earth did not advance as it did in the one she came from. This began to worry her because she didn't know how being in an alternate universe would affect her, and she didn't know if she would ever be able to go home again. She had heard of the mirror universe theory, and had read how Captain James Kirk had ended up in one. She asked: "Have you ever heard of the 'mirror universe' theory?" McDaniel smiled and replied "We've heard of it, but we've never had any proof of it. Why do you ask?" "Because" Nina sighed "that is the only possibility that I can think of for our different accounts of Cocharin's Phoenix in 2063. We had one starship Captain, a James Kirk, who experienced…" "James Kirk" Marsha Williams broke in "did you say Captain James Kirk, a starship Captain in 2262?" Nina looked puzzled and quietly said "Yes." Marsha asked "have you ever heard of a story of this Captain Kirk intervening in an effort by one of his own people who were trying to help a people called the Comm overcome a people called the Yang?" Nina had read the account, it was classified as "Incident at Omega 4." She answered "Yes, I have read the account." Marsha then asked "did this account mention a tribal leader by the name of Cloud Williams?" Nina responded in the affirmative, and Marsha said "that man was my grand-father. We are the Yang."

How could this be, Kirk's account said that when they left the people were nothing more than savages and that was a little more than a hundred years ago. She said "how is such possible? When Kirk left the Yang and Comm were a little more than savage people with no technology, and that was only 140 years ago?" McDaniel asked "how long does your account of earth say it took to develop faster than light drive?" Nina thought and said "well, we developed it in 2063, but we had ships in space far earlier than that." "And so did we" McDaniel broke in. Up until the year 2014 we had space shuttles in space and were building a space station. However, in 2014 we went through WWIII, then in 2190 WWIV began and it ended in 2262. We weren't ignorant, we were just beaten down by war. After the war ended, and governments reestablished and nations rebuilt, we took the technology that we had in the past and started from there. We started looking to space in 2262, and it didn't take all that long before we were able to put a man back in space. In 2262 there were 3 billion people left on earth and once we got organized it didn't take any time at all for technology to re-emerge. It has taken 100 years for us to get to FTL on our ships and we only have one active FTL drive ship, and one other that is nearly finished.

Nina laid there and thought and suddenly realized that she was talking to a people that she had only read about. She quickly said "our people have often wondered how your planet turned out, I guess now I know." "But about the Borg, they are a race that we don't know anything about their origins, but they are part machine and part biological. They don't procreate, so they conquer other cultures and assimilate them to their own." She continued "I was assimilated at Wolf 359 when the Tombaugh was part of a forty ship fleet that attacked a Borg cube." It destroyed nearly every ship. It assimilated the Tombaugh and took it back to the Hive along with everyone on board.

"Each drone has shields" she said, "that modulate. You can kill them until they adapt then you have to find a different method." "They all speak at the same time, think at the same time, think the same thing. They are in perfect unison. There is no individualism in the Hive." "They really are a hard enemy to overcome. So how did you do it?"

McDaniel said "the Captain of the Saratoga destroyed her own ship. When 8 nuclear reactors all went off at once it caused an explosion that nothing could handle. We can't even get close to ground zero because of the radiation. Dr. Osborn came in and said "that's quite enough, she needs her rest." "Of course" McDaniel said "I need to be on the bridge anyway, we are about to get underway to go home, but I'll see you later."


	11. Chapter 10: The Journey Home

**Disclaimer**: This writer claims no ownership to Star Trek or any of its characters or names. He only holds ownership to his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 10

The Journey Home

As Capt. McDaniel sat down in the captain's chair on the bridge he waited for all fighters and Star Wolf's to land and finally word from D.C. Central that all stations were ready to get underway. By this time the entire battle group had arrived and was standing by to get underway. As the last raptor landed word came from D.C. Central that all stations were now ready to get underway. McDaniel then turned to the helmsman and said "set course for Earth, and engage at full speed when ready. Notify all ships that we will travel at sub-light speed" "Aye Sir" replied QM-3 Yamamoto as she began crunching the co-ordinance into the helm console. Keiko Yamamoto was 24 years old and came from Tokyo, Japan. Her family ties went all the way back to the Admiral Yamamoto who commanded the Japanese task force that assaulted Pearl Harbor in 1941; the attack that brought the United States into the second world war. Keiko had been in the Navy for 3 years and had every intention of re-enlisting when her hitch was up. She was another crew member who transferred over from the Pennsylvania when Capt. McDaniel was given command of the Hancock. In one form or another her family had always served in the military, and she was what was called a "lifer" meaning that she intended to retire in the Navy.

As she finished inputting the co-ordinance she looked up at the Captain and said "Sir, we are now ready to engage at full speed." As the captain gave her his approving nod and with a wave of his hand telling her to engage she spoke into the 1MC to let the ship know that Hancock was getting underway: "All hands, prepare to get underway." Placing her hand on the throttle she pushed forward and the ship began to move until it reached full speed and Hancock began its journey home.

Captain McDaniel sat in the captain's chair looking out at the stars and the deck of the ship. He knew that it was about a week's journey home which would probably put him returning just before Lynn Macy's memorial services. Someone who was as well-known as she was will have a well-attended memorial service. This was one service that he dreaded, so he was really not looking forward to returning to Earth.

He also had another unwelcomed task and that was the task of what to do with Chief Fallon. Here was a man who has faithfully discharged his duties with complete fidelity until now. Chief Fallon was a 20 year veteran who was one of the best deck chiefs that Logan had ever seen. He just didn't understand what the problem was with the chief.

Down in the radio room Radioman Kyle Bennett was surfing the frequencies when he picked up the following North Korean message:

"미국 군함

미국 군함

당신은 우리의 기지를 공격했습니다

당신은 지금 당신이 한 생명을 위해 지불해야

방어막을 내리고 배를 항복

당신은 준수해야합니다 또는 우리는 당신에게 발사한다"

"미국 군함

미국 군함

당신은 우리의 기지를 공격했습니다

당신은 지금 당신이 한 생명을 위해 지불해야

방어막을 내리고 배를 항복

당신은 준수해야합니다 또는 우리는 당신에게 발사한다"

Bennett began to turn on the translator when Petty Officer Kim walked into the room and in a teasing manner said "having trouble with your Korean?" "hmmm?" Bennett blushed and said "sort of." Kim said "let's see American Warship, American Warship you have attacked our outpost you must now pay for the lives you have taken lower your shields and surrender your vessel you must comply or we will fire upon you." She immediately went from her teasing mode to serious and said: "Notify the bridge NOW." Bennett notified the Lieutenant on duty who notified the bridge of the call. Mean-while Petty Officer Kim turned on the translator and got a print out of it:

미국 군함

American Warship

미국 군함

American Warship

당신은 우리의 기지를 공격했습니다

you have attacked our outpost

당신은 지금 당신이 한 생명을 위해 지불해야

you must now pay for the lives you have taken

방어막을 내리고 배를 항복

lower your shields and surrender your vessel

당신은 준수해야합니다 또는 우리는 당신에게 발사한다

you must comply or we will fire upon you

Logan had just started drinking a cup of coffee wondering how this day could get any worse when he got the call from the radio room about the call from the North Koreans. He listened to it and immediately began to look for Comm vessels, and instructed the Bridge officer to look as well. "Radar to Bridge" came the call, and Logan picked up the receiver and spoke "Bridge, go ahead." "Captain, we have two torpedo ships and three light cruisers trailing us, they are 1500 kilometers and closing at full speed. The Captain ordered General Quarters and Flight Quarters. While the Comm ships were small he well knew of the damage they could cause a carrier with just one or two well-placed torpedoes, a lesson they learned well when the USS Hornet SCVAN 10 was taken out 10 years ago by just two torpedoes. He looked at the front of the carrier and saw two raptors leaving almost simultaneously from the launch tubes, and he ordered the shields up. "Captain," came the radar room from the 1MC, "Go ahead," he replied. "Captain, we have a torpedo locked on us and traveling at high speed." McDaniel immediately began giving orders: "Helm, hard to port, cut starboard engine with full-speed to port, and ready CWIS." The CWIS. or Phalanx as it was otherwise known, was a 20mm six-barreled Mk 15 close-in weapon system which has a firing rate of 3,000 rounds/min and a range of 1.5km. Logan knew that you could not just turn a carrier this large on a dime and he hoped he had enough time to get turned so the Phalanx could do its job and take out the torpedo before it hit the Port FTL drive casing. While the CWIS could move horizontially it's horizontal movement was limited. The greatest movement it had was vertical, so the carrier had to be in place for the Gatling to hit its target. As the carrier began to turn, more raptors began to launch in hopes of taking out the torpedo before it got close enough to do any damage. Radar called and said "Captain the torpedo is 9,000 Klms and closing." Still the Hancock continued in its port turn, and Logan grabbed the handset and pushed the button for the entire ship and said "All hands, this is the captain, prepare for incoming, brace for shock." The Phalanx was on a fixed platform which could not be moved, so the ship would have to be in the right position for it to have affect. The Captain said "stand by on the Sparrows, lock on to the ship that launched that torpedo." The weapon's officer said "locked and ready." The captain said "Launch 1" and the box of sparrow missiles turned and the top of the first one flew off and the missile flew into space and headed to the torpedo ship. "Radar to Bridge, the torpedo is at 3,000 klms and closing." "Bridge aye" the captain responded. The helmsman said "Captain we are in position." The captain said "all engines full stop" and the engines came to a complete stop. McDaniel just hoped he didn't drift too far before the torpedo got into range because the Phalanx was pretty worthless at any distance over 1.5 klms. "Radar to bridge 1.9 Klms and closing…1.7 Klms and closing…1.6 Klms and closing….1.5 Klms and closing." Then the captain told the weapons officer in CIC to begin the Phalanx. At that moment the quietness was devastated by the sound of 3000 rounds of 20 mm bullets being fired. It seemed to roar throughout the ship. The captain watched as the torpedo exploded 1 Klm from the ship and the Phalanx stopped. All he could hear was a roar of cheers from around the ship. He then told the weapon's officer "fire 2" and the second sparrow missile flew off after the first one. At that moment a torpedo from the Alabama went cruising by the Hancock headed for the Comm ship and the Seattle and Minnesota began firing their guns at them.

The 1MC rang out "Radar to Bridge, #1 sparrow direct hit on the engine room of the first torpedo ship." The XO then called up and asked "Sir do you want to keep #2 on target or shall we abort?" "No, keep it on target, but I need a call out of distance at 5 Klms" the captain replied. "Weapons to bridge, #2 is 5 kilometers and closing, 4 Klms and closing…3 Klms and closing… 2 klms and closing…1.5 klms and closing" and then the captain said "Detonate" and he saw an explosion in space. "Weapons to bridge #2 detonated at .9 klms with no further damage." "Bridge aye, but I'll bet it put the fear of God into them." Then the captain said "Bridge to Radio see if you can raise one of those Comm vessels and see if they want to talk now if they want to continue this." "Aye Captain" came the reply from the radio room.

Suddenly a call came over the 1MC "Radar to Bridge! Three Comm Cruisers moving at flank speed 130 klms and closing." Logan pushed the button to the flight operations room which was on the bottom tier (directly below the CIC) on the Island of the carrier, and said "Bridge to Flight Ops, send two raptors to engage those cruisers." "Aye Captain" came the reply. At that moment the captain heard a voice that he knew all too well, it was the voice of his first officer, Marsha Williams: "CIC to Bridge, Captain you better look out your starboard portal," and at that precise moment he heard "We are the Borg, lower your shields, and prepare to be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is Futile." It was the sound of thousands of people speaking all at once, in perfect unison. Logan turned to see a giant blue-green cubed shape ship with no discernible bow, bridge or stern. At that moment a green laser protruded from the cube and hit the bow of the Hancock, but the shields protected it from any damage. The captain ordered all canons to return fire, and upon the command all canons began to fire upon the cube. Logan ordered the weapon's officer to lock the Sparrow Missiles on the cube and fire two of them, and the Sparrow box on the platform turned and two missiles left the ship and headed for the cube. Logan also ordered the fighters that were out to attack the cube and 4 raptor fighters began to attack the cube. Logan then gave the order: "Get Chief Fallon out of the brig and put him back to work."

The battle went on for several minutes, one raptor was destroyed and the two Sparrows caused medium damage to the cube, but the Borg were quick to repair. The canons continued to fire, and raptors and Lighting II's began to launch and attack the enemy ship. All in all there were 20 fighters engaged with the Borg cube, and they caused major damage to the ship. They were combat landing and launching which meant that they were landing and launching at the same time. The deck crew had no time for rest, they had to refuel and rearm then relaunch.

Logan stood there in shock for a minute because this was just not something they taught him to prepare for in the Naval Academy. This ship was much larger than the Hancock and he had no idea as to where to hit it. He quickly regained his senses and said "get that girl up here that we captured, we need to know everything about what we are dealing with." Someone said "what about the Comms?" "Forget the Comms; we have bigger fish to fry. . The Dallas (an attack torpedo ship) fired two torpedoes on the cube, but with no real impact. The Alabama (another ATS) launched torpedoes, and the Seattle and Minnesota both fired their cannons at the cube. The captain of the Dallas stated over the airway that they had gotten too close to cube and the Borg were appearing on their ship and they were helpless against them. At that moment a tactical nuclear missile left the Dallas and headed towards the cube. All fighters and other ships got as far away from the cube as they could to stay away from the shockwave and the blast. The explosion caused moderate damage to the cube, so another left the Dallas. Suddenly the Dallas started heading for the cube at a high rate of speed, Logan knew that the captain was going to ram, and with the two nuke explosions it might be enough at least cripple the large ship. At the same instant that the second missile hit and exploded, the Dallas impacted and it also exploded causing the large cube to split in half. Then it was then like a pack of wolves going after a wounded deer, all the Navy's ships along with the two remaining Comm ships went after the two halves of the cube firing cannons and missiles at them until there was little left. The whole battle took 28 minutes. The Dallas was lost, 8 fighters were destroyed, the Alabama was on fire, and the Hancock suffered moderate damage. The Seattle and the Minnesota stood watch while the crew of the Alabama brought the fires under control.

Once the fires on the Alabama were out and the Comm torpedo ship was operational again, Captain McDaniel gave the order to get underway at full sub-light speed. The Comm vessels went their own way, and the Hancock battle group started for home.


	12. Chapter 11: Man's One Constant

**Disclaimer**: This writer holds no claim to Star Trek or any of its characters or names. He only holds claims to his own ideas and story lines.

Chapter 11

_One Week Later on Earth_

Man's One Constant

The one constant in the universe, it seems, is politics. No matter where you go, or what you do, there will always be some Politian with his/her nose stuck right in the midst of things. This was what was going through Logan's mind as he sat before the Senate Oversight committee. He heard someone say "Captain McDaniel, could you please give me your undivided attention?" He looked into the eyes of Senator Carol Seigle, who was a liberal that would do whatever she could to stunt military spending. Logan said "Sorry…what was the question again?" Seigle chuckled and replied "Your heart really isn't in this is it?" "No" replied the captain "I just attended the wake of a friend whom I have known since I was 10 years old. I am sorry but I am having a hard time concentrating. What was the question again?" he asked.

"The question Captain was this: Once you saw that the Borg ship was damaged so severely that it was splitting in half, why didn't you direct all ships to stop firing on it? Why didn't you offer to help these beings, and maybe by extending an olive branch you could have made a truce with them?" "A Truce?" replied Logan as he sat straight up in his chair and he said "Senator, you obviously don't have the ability to grasp the situation here. They are not some benevolent race of beings whose intention it is to give us a cure for some terrible disease! No! They are a conquering race who assimilates their captives and turns them into their own race, whether the captive wants it or not." Senator Seigle said "And you know for a fact do you?" "Yes I do!" shouted McDaniel. "I viewed the logs of the Saratoga and that ship came out of hyperspace and without any warning whatsoever fired upon the Saratoga, not once, but four times knocking out both the front cats and the angle cats, and hitting her amid ship so they couldn't get planes from the launch bay to the receiving bay." "There was no reason for it, and if you would have taken the time to look at the log you would have seen that." Seigle rolled her eyes and said "Captain, I know how easy it is to doctor log recordings, so those recordings don't mean a thing. As far as I am concerned Captain Macy fired first upon a race of people that she knew nothing about because she got scared being out there without her precious battle group." McDaniel stood up and pointed his finger at the senator and yelled "Lynn Macy wasn't even on the bridge when this attack started she was headed for her quarters, and no one doctored the logs!" With that he turned and briskly walked out with Senator Seigle yelling for him to return to his seat.

As he walked outside a Humvee pulled up and a Marine got out and said "Sir, the Yorktown is under attack from one of those cubes and the Hancock has been ordered to assist." About that time Senator Seigle came up and said "I think I'll tag along and show you how to do things." "Fine" said McDaniel "just stay out of my way!" Logan got in the front on the passenger side while Seigle got in the back and they left for the air field.

When they got to the air field a Star Wolf was waiting for them. They got in strapped in and the pilot lifted off and headed for the sky. Logan looked at the wall across from him and remained silent, but Senator Seigle tried to make small talk. Finally Logan told her: "Look you wanted to come along, but if you are going to talk incessantly I will make you stay abort this craft and have the pilot deliver you back to earth. If you want to come along, keep quiet. Understood?" "Yes Sir!" She retorted giving him a sarcastic snappy salute. She sat there for a few more minutes and then said "I don't know how your wife puts up with you! Are you this way around her?" Logan stared at her with piercing eyes and said in a firm voice "Please Shut Up, Will You?" That seemed to end the conversation part of the trip.

After they landed on the deck of the Hancock Chief Fallon looked at the Senator and asked Logan "What's she doing here?" "Oh…hmm…she thinks she's going to extend _an olive branch_" he said in a mocking voice "_and make a truce with these things_." Fallon said, "Well, I learned my lesson about them there's no making peace with them, and I have a feeling that she will figure that out. Logan looked at and cracked a smile and said all it took for you to see it was to see one of your own get assimilated, but she is going to have to be assimilated before she will see it." They both chuckled and Logan said "Find her a berthing quarters would ya?" "Sure." And then Logan headed towards the bridge.

He went through the hatch and heard someone follow him, as he turned around he saw Senator Seigle coming towards him, and he put up his hand and said "Stop right here, I told Chief Fallon to find you some Quarters, so you go with him." "Psst" she said "I didn't come here to be pampered, I am going to the bridge, now either lead the way or get out of my way Captain!"

Now he was really regretting allowing her to tag along. Who did she think she was anyway? He was the commanding officer of this ship and she was treating him like he was a little child. As she started to go around him he put his hand on the bulkhead blocking her way. She backed up and stared at him with anger in her eyes and said "Who do you think you are?" He responded "I think I am the Commanding Officer of this ship." Then he picked up the phone on the bulkhead and pushed the button for the Marine Detachment and asked for a Marine Guard to his location at once. The voice on the other end responded "Aye Captain." She looked at him suspiciously and said "You wouldn't dare!" and he said "No? Watch me!" So they stood there until the two marines showed up. One of them was SSgt Mathers, and Logan said "Good Mathers Find this woman some appropriate berthing and don't let her out of your sight! Understood?" Mathers snapped to attention and said "Understood Sir, I won't fail you again." "I'm sure you won't" and with that he turned and started off towards the Bridge all the while putting ear plugs in his ears to stifle the very loud protests that Senator Seigle was yelling.

He stepped on to the escalator and rode up to the upper level and stepped off and walked up to the hatch leading on to the bridge. He opened the hatch and walked on and heard "Captain's on the bridge" and immediately everyone snapped to attention—well everyone that is but Marsha, she had gotten a little tired of snapping to attention when all he was going to do was tell everyone to stand down anyway. Logan had a sick sense of humor and if he had more time he thought about reading her the right act, and a smile crossed his face. She saw it and knew what was on his mind and said "Don't even think about it." He chuckled and said "everyone stand at ease" and everyone went back to what they had been doing.

Marsha moved in close and asked "Is it true what I'm hearing?" Logan replied "I don't know! What are you hearing?" She said "I heard that the wicked witch of the west was aboard." Logan chuckled and said in a low voice "Weeelll if you are talking about Senator Seigle, you are correct, but she is under Marine guard locked away in some berthing quarters." Marsha gave him a mischievous grin and said "Only you would have the guts to do that to a sitting Senator." He put an innocent look on his face and said "What? It is for her protection! I would hate for someone on this ship to mistake her for a Borg." With that Marsha died laughing.

He asked "Are we ready to get underway?" "All departments have checked in sir" replied the helmsman, so he turned to the officer of the deck and said "Go To General Quarters." The Officer said "Yes Sir" then he said over the mic ": "Now Hear This! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations! General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands Man Your Battle Stations!" Starboard side up and forward, port side down and aft. Move it people, this is not a drill. Set condition Zebra throughout the ship! All departments check in with DC Central!"

He looked at the helmsman and said full speed ahead, and the helmsman informed the ship that we would be going to full speed and then pushed the throttle to full speed, and the carrier began to move. They had to get out of Earth's space before they could use the FTL's so they wouldn't be caught in any of the outer planets gravity wells.

The deck officer stated that all departments were manned and ready and Logan informed the officer to go to flight quarters, but not to launch. Then the officer announced "Flight Quarters, Flight Quarters, All Hands man your Flight Quarters Stations." By the time they got to Fight Quarters they were well past Jupiter's moons and Logan instructed the deck officer to input the co-ordinance for the Yorktown into the FTL computer and standby to jump. The deck officer instructed the helmsman to input the co-ordinance and while he was doing that the deck officer got on the ship's 1MC to the Ship and said "All Hands Prepare to go to FTL." As the captain sat back in his chair he listened as the helmsman called out "5-4-3-2-1" and in a blaze of lights the Hancock jumped.

When they emerged into normal space again Logan could see the Yorktown lisping to the port side her receiving bay was on fire and on his com he could hear all the chat from her fighters. They couldn't land and/or refuel or re-arm. Logan picked up his receiver and pushed the button for communications and informed the communications officer to let the fighter pilots from the Yorktown know that they could land, refuel and re-arm and relaunch on the Hancock. He then informed the Flight Officer to get ready to receive. He also instructed him to start launching fighters.

He heard "Communications to the Bridge" "This is the Bridge" Logan said. "Captain you have a communique from CTF. Do you want me to send it up?" No, I do not; I am in the middle of a battle here. Whatever it is I am sure it can wait!" He then ordered "Fire all cannons" and all cannons began to fire at the Borg vessel.

"Captain, CTF demands to speak to you now" came an announcement from communications. Logan sighed as he knew what this was all about; that woman probably called it in that he had her under guard. "Go ahead pipe it up here."

He saw on his view-screen Admiral Watson who said "McDaniel, what are doing, locking a sitting Senator away in a room under Marine Guard?" "Excuse me Admiral" Logan replied "but I don't have time to baby sit her, I am in the middle of a battle, and I don't want her on the bridge while this is going on. She will get the grand tour after we mop up." "Don't play games with me McDaniel" Watson said with an angry voice "Just because you got command of the Navy's Flag Ship doesn't mean you will keep it. Now you get her out of that room and let her go where she pleases, and I mean NOW MISTER! IS THAT CLEAR?" Logan stood there in silence for a moment and Watson should "NOW McDaniel!" "Fine" Logan said "as you wish, but whatever happens to her is on your head Admiral because I wash my hands of the whole ordeal. Watson said "As of this minute Senator Seigle is in Command of this Armada."

People on the bridge couldn't believe their ears. Did Admiral Watson really mean what he said? Was he really going to put a Senator who had never been in the Military in command of a ship over a Captain who grew up in the Military with numerous battles on his record?

Logan picked up the phone and instructed SSgt Mathers to let Senator Seigle go where she wanted to go and to take her where she wanted to go. Moments later she walked on to the bridge. The first thing she did was to instruct communications to connect to all ships and fighters. When that was done, she said "This is Senator Seigle, and as of this moment I am in charge. So stop fighting right now, all fighters pull back and land." Logan heard the fighters start saying "I am not doing any such thing I answer only to the Old Man." She looked at Logan and he stood there silently. She said "Tell them to obey me!" Logan said "You can take my command away from me, once that is done I have no right to tell them anything at all. You are in command, you make them follow your orders."

She told the helmsman to get closer to the cube and the helmsman refused, he said "I am not that stupid Mam, you might be, but I am not." She said "Then you will be court-martialed." He said "Maybe so, but I am not going to put this ship in danger." Seigle looked around the bridge and saw that no one was going to obey her so she threw the receiver of the sound powered phone against the deck and broke it and she stormed out screaming at the top of her voice.

Logan went down the ladder and informed Marsha of what had happened and asked her to take over as acting Captain. She agreed if he would take over as acting first officer. He stayed at her post in CIC while she went to the bridge. The battle raged on for 20 more minutes when the Borg cube disappeared into space.

The ship secured from GQ and Logan went to his quarters to make a call to CTF to talk to Admiral Yancy about what had happened. He couldn't get through to the Admiral at that point so he laid back on his rack and waited.


	13. Chapter 12 The Virus

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own any part of Star Trek, he only owns his own story line and ideas.

Chapter 12

The Virus

The monitor beeped and Logan got up from his rack and went to his desk; it was Admiral Yancy: "Sir," Logan said "I called to…" Yancy interrupted "I know all about it Logan and Watson had no authority to relieve you of command and place it in the hands of a civilian. Is Senator Seigle with you?" "No," Logan answered "she got mad because no one on the bridge would follow her commands to get Hancock close to the cube, and the fighters refused to follow her orders. She got so mad that she left the bridge in a huff, so I asked Commander Williams to take Command and I took her place as Exec." "Good" he replied, "So get Commander Williams together so this can be done all at once, preferably on the bridge and I will reinstate your command. Call me back when you are there. Oh and find Seigle too because I want to have a word or two with her." "Yes sir "Logan replied, turned off the monitor and headed to the bridge.

When he got to the bridge Marsha was sitting in the Captain's chair and Logan went over and picked up the phone and pushed the button for Communications: "Communications!" "Communications, this is Captain McDaniel, raise Admiral Yancy at San Francisco and pipe it up her and also put a call out for Senator Seigle." "Yes sir" came the call."

Marsha asked "You back in command now?" "I will be momentarily" Logan replied. Before Marsha could reply Admiral Yancy came on the view screen and said "It's good to see you Commander Williams." Marsha said "It's good to see you too sir." Yancy cleared his throat and said "Admiral Watson has made quite a mess, and I do appreciate you stepping in when Senator Seigle deserted her post, but now I need to put Logan back in the Captain's chair. You have any objections?" Marsha smiled and said "None whatsoever sir." Admiral Yancy then said "Therefore Captain Logan McDaniel you are once again in command of the Hancock and I assume that you want Commander Williams as your Exec?" Logan said "Yes I do." "Good" he said "now everything is as it should be. When you find Senator Seigle let me know." "Yes sir McDaniel out!"

The Senator had been called on the 1MC several times over the last two hours. Her quarters had been searched, but she was nowhere to be found. "No shuttles have been launched, no fighters have been launched, and it's not like she can just walk off. Where could she have gone?" Logan asked. "Search every inch of this ship; she's here and she's hiding because she's embarrassed; but find her" Logan ordered. How do you find a person on a carrier who doesn't want to be found? As he sat there in his chair he saw a blinding light then a blue-green cube just for a second, and before he could order General Quarters the ship  
was gone, but Senator Seigle was lying on the deck of the bridge in front of him. She was completely naked and, she had obviously been experimented on, she was just barely alive. "Get sick bay up here on the double and go to General Quarters now" Logan yelled as he took off his Jacket and placed over her. "Senator, Senator, Carol, do you hear me?" Tears were coming into his eyes as he saw the Senator's mangled body; she uttered "They are confused, they don't know why we changed our ships and why we are using projectiles. They don't know how to kill the virus we have given them." "You mean the Nano virus?" Logan asked. "No, no it's biological, it's killing them and they don't know how to deal with it." Logan softly said "You rest easy and don't worry about anything." She put her hand on Logan's face and said "You were right they can't be reasoned with. And they keep talking about something called Star Fleet." With that she passed out and the Corpsmen arrived and put her on a gurney and took her to sick bay. Logan sat back in his chair stunned, Marsha was standing there, and he looked up at her and said "they didn't know about us, they have us confused with the others."

"Stand down from G.Q., and have all department heads meet me in my ready room" Logan ordered and walked past Lt. Brinkman and said you have the Bridge, and walked into the ready room to wait for the department heads. He heard the call to stand down from G.Q. and for all department heads to meet in the Captain's Ready Room.

Logan walked in and stood in front of the department heads and he scratched his head and said "People, we have a decisive advantage here because these Borg weren't prepared to deal with us, they thought they were dealing with what 2nd Lt. Lansing refers to as Star Fleet. Now we all know that the virus was caused by the biological weapons used in WWIII, and that if an off-worlder should come into contact with either us or our planet that they must maintain that contact for 72 hours and give the virus time to wear off otherwise it will go active and kill. Now Lansing has been in constant contact with us, but had she gotten away, before the 72 hours was up, she would have died. The Borg who assimilated the Comm outpost didn't know that so they assimilated those people and now they seem to have a problem. Senator Seigle says that they don't know how to deal with the biological virus that we are giving them, so apparently when they assimilated the Comm they transmit the virus to everyone else, but not the resistance that the Comm have against the virus."

Dr. Osborn spoke up and said "It would be an easy thing to pass the virus along, because it is an external part of the makeup, but the resistance is part of our makeup, so it is not going to be that easy. These Borg are going to have a very difficult time if Lt. Lansing is accurate in her description of them, and I see no reason to doubt her because the things I pulled out of and off of her lead me to believe everything he says about them."

The weapons officer spoke up and asked "would it be possible to make a live strain of the virus and fire it into one of their ships and let them take it home?" Logan thought about that then said "that is something we are going to have to bring up to Command when we get home. Okay, everyone go back to your department, inform your crew, get input from them, and we'll meet back here before we get back. Dismissed." He looked at Marsha and said "Can you take the Bridge I want to check on the Senator?" She smiled and said "Sure!" and walked out to the bridge.

_Six Hours Later…_

Carol opened her eyes to see Logan McDaniel sitting beside her bed. She weakly moved closer to the edge of the bed and said "Captain, what are you doing?" Logan opened his eyes and said "I guess I dozed off…I came here about 2200 Hrs to see how you were doing and after they brought you in I sat down and I guess I fell asleep." She gave a weak smile and said "So you have a heart after all?" Logan leaned forward and asked her "You said something about the virus killing them." Carol said "Yes, the bacteria that we all have because of the biological weapons used in the 3rd world war. If they had stayed on the Comm outposts the virus would have stayed dormant, or if they had stayed in constant contact with the people they assimilated the virus would have stayed dormant, but the minute they left the outpost, or left those people and went elsewhere the virus became active and they spread it to others. Now half of their fleet is quarantined, and they are dying. Now their intent is to eradicate their infected, then they intend to come after us, not to assimilate us but to eradicate us. They will come to destroy us. Logan we are going to need every ship possible, even if it means pulling some out of moth balls." Logan asked her "What did you mean when you said that they were confused about us?"

Carol said "They are confused as to why we changed our ships. Our ships, they say, are more solid with more mass. They also had been working on a virus to slowly turn all of us into them, but they didn't know that we had a virus that would kill them." Logan told her "Look we are going to be docking soon and we will get you to Bethesda Naval Hospital, but we are going to need you to tell Congress what you have told us." She said "I'll be more than happy to do that." With that Logan got up and left the room and Carol went back to sleep.


	14. Chapter 13 Home Again

**Disclaimer**: This author does not own any part of Star Trek, he only owns his own story line and ideas.

Chapter 13

Home Again

Logan walked out of the Space Port and saw his wife Mary and his daughter Stephanie standing there in a long line of people waiting for him to come out. Stephanie was 12 and was growing up to look just like her mother. Logan thought "Thank the Lord she doesn't look like me, rather she looks like Mary." As he came closer Stephanie broke ranks and ran to him, he knelt down and caught her in his arms, and picked her up as he stood up." She said "I missed you so much daddy." He replied "I missed you too Princess." When Logan was in Port the last time he had been sequestered by the Senate Oversight Committee and the only time he had been allowed out was to attend the wake for Captain Lynn Macy. He only got to see his wife and daughter from a distance and then he was escorted back. This time he was able to go home. Mary came towards him and they embraced and kissed, and the three of them walked off together. A 3rd Class Petty Officer was standing beside a Navy car and he said "Sir, I am your driver." Mary said "We brought our car." Logan looked at the Petty Officer and said "Looks like your lucky day, your off the hook."

They went into the parking lot and got into the family car and started home. Logan looked at the amp gage and Mary said "Yes, I charged both batteries before I came to get you." Logan smiled and said "Good, I would hate to think I sent that P.O. home for nothing."

Logan pulled on to the street where they lived. Kids were playing in yards all up and down the street. Logan thought of how innocent these kids were and how it would be awful to rob them of their childhood, but that was exactly what would happen if the Borg had their way. When he came to their home he pulled into the drive, put the car in park and turned off the ignition. Stephanie started to get out when her best friend Carolyn, from across the street, came over and said "Hi Mr. McDaniel, Hi Mrs. McDaniel, can Steph play for a while?" Mary said "Hello Carolyn, sure for a while." Carolyn said "Ok thanks. Oh Mr. McDaniel it's good to see you. We missed having you here. My dad said it was a real awful thing that the Senate was doing to you, not letting you come home last time." "Thank you Carolyn. How is your dad?" Logan asked. "He's good, they are transferring him to the Anchorage, but he wants to go to the Hancock" she said. "Humm…" Logan thought "what does he do again?" "He's an engineman" she replied. Logan said "Tell him to come and see me tomorrow and we'll see what we can do." Carolyn stood there in shock and said "I wasn't trying to get him a job sir, I was just talking." "Carolyn" Logan smiled and knelt down to her level "I've known you since birth, you and Steph have always been the best of friends. I know what your intentions were. But the fact is we do need enginemen. Ok?" Carolyn smiled and said "Okay" and she and Stephanie ran off to Carolyn's house to play.

When Logan walked in Mary smiled and asked "Are you really needing engineman?" "Absolutely" Logan replied, "but Carl is going to have to understand that where Hancock is going" and he sighed and Mary, with a concerned look said "What?" Logan said "Hancock and Enterprise are the only two Ships with FTL engines, and we will basically be the only two ships jumping in and out of Borg territory. We have got to take the fight to them. We cannot allow them to come to Earth."

Mary went and sat down on the couch and started to cry. She said "You promise me you'll be careful out there." Logan held her in his arms and said "I'll do everything possible, but I command a carrier and that is no small task. It is a warship. It is an attack vessel, and I am going to put 7500 lives on the line to save billions. Mine will be there too. I want you to know that I love you, and I love Stephanie, but this is something that I have to do. For the most part, it is up to the Hancock and Enterprise.'

Mary fixed tuna casserole for dinner that night, along with green beans. Stephanie came in at 1830 and went to the head to wash up. When she came back they all sat down at the table and bowed in prayer.

As Logan prayed he prayed for his family & friends. He prayed for his nation, and he prayed for his comrades in arms. He prayed for the leaders of his nations and the leaders of all nations. He prayed that there would be no war between the Borg and the Humans, but if there was he prayed that he would be strong and courageous in battle. He gave thanks for the food and asked forgiveness of his sins and ended the prayer in the name of Christ Jesus.

Stephanie looked up and said "War with who?" Mary looked at Logan with tears in her eyes and said "You are going to have to explain this to her before you pull out." He said "I know, and I will, I promise." Then he looked at his young daughter and said "Honey let's eat dinner without talking shop, and tonight after the dishes are done, I'll tell you everything. Deal?" Stephanie said "Okay, deal!" and they began to eat. As they ate Stephanie began to ramble on about her day in school and how Jimmy Johnson drank so much milk at lunch that it made him sick, and he threw up everywhere. As Stephanie was laughing Logan and Mary thought of the scene and they too began to laugh.

After dinner they ate ice cream sandwiches and then the three of them cleared the table and started with the dishes. While they had an automatic dishwasher Logan wanted to wash them manually tonight so they could all be together doing the same thing. Logan would wash, Mary would rinse and Stephanie would dry. Once they were dried all the dishes and silverware were placed back where they belonged.

They talked a few more minutes then Stephanie said "Daddy, you promised." This was a conversation that he didn't want to have. He would rather be telling her about the birds and the bees than to have to tell her that her whole world was about to come crashing down around her feet. But Logan and Mary made a promise when she was born that they would always be up front with her and let her in on everything. Logan said "Right" and he put his hand on his daughter's and guided her to the living room.

Once they were all set down, Logan began. "Sweetheart, have you heard anything about a race called the Borg?" Stephanie said "In school some of the teachers talk about them. One of my teachers, Miss Laramore thinks we can make peaceful contact with them and have an alliance with them. She said that is why Senator Seigle went out on the Hancock." "Well," Logan started "that is certainly what Senator Seigle thought, but that was before they captured her, and tortured her." Stephanie said "What did they do to her?" Mary broke in and said "Logan I don't think she needs to know all the details." And Logan said "We promised we wouldn't hold anything back and we never have. We have always told her how the Comm have tortured our people. She needs to know." He then turned to his daughter and said "They cut pieces of her body out, and they burned, they sent probes into her brain and other parts of her body. Honey these are not peaceful people. They only know how to conquer." Stephanie said "but what about the Gospel? Doesn't it say 'Love your enemies?'" Logan looked at the floor for a minute and said "Yes it does, but Jesus was not talking about people that were going to assimilate you and make you kill others against your will. He was talking about regular people. Jesus was talking about the Comm, which is why many of us would like to make peace with the Comm, but the Comm cannot dominate us and make us do things against our will and the Borg can by injecting nanites into our bodies and controlling us. They are not going to ever change. You can pray for them, you can do good to them, and you can love them, but in the end you have to stay as far away from them as possible."

Stephanie asked "Is that why you asked God to let us not have a war with the Borg?" "Yes, Sweetheart, I don't to fight them, I just don't want them trying to destroy us" Logan said. Stephanie thought about it for a few minutes and said "I'll pray for them when I go to sleep tonight, but daddy, don't let them hurt you; I love you." Mary started crying and tears came into Logan's eyes as well. He said "I love you too, and I'll do everything humanly possible to keep them from hurting any of us." With that Stephanie said "I am going to take my shower and get ready for bed."

The rest of the evening was spent in the den with Logan and Mary lying on the couch talking about the coming war and things she needed to do if the Borg got past the Navy. Logan had found an old bomb shelter a few years back and they renovated and put food and water in it. If the Borg broke through Mary was to take Stephanie and both sets of parents and go to the bomb shelter and lock themselves in. It was in a burned out part of the Old Washington DC, where the Borg might not look.

Logan had not told her of the Borg's intentions of destroying Earth because he didn't want to upset her. He wanted to give her hope; something to cling on to.


	15. Chapter 14 Attack On Earth

This writer does not own Star Trek or any of its characters. He only owns his own story lines and ideas.

Chapter 14

Attack On Earth

Logan was awakened by the blaring sound of the siren and explosions in the back ground. One explosion was so loud that it shook all of Mary's makeup on her dresser. Stephanie was running down the hall towards his and Mary's bedroom screaming "help daddy help." Mary came alive and got up and ran out the bedroom door and took Stephanie in her arms and brought her to their room. Logan had put on his uniform and was tying his boots. Mary looked at him with terror in her eyes "You're…you're not thinking about leaving are you?" Logan said "honey I have to go, I have to get back to the ship and see what I can do." Mary screamed "No, let Marsha run the ship, your place is here with us." Logan held her and said "You know that my place is on the bridge of that ship. If you want, get dressed and dress Steph and you two can leave with me, and I'll drop you at your parent's house." She immediately dressed their daughter and got dressed herself.

Logan heard the whine of a Starwolf as the black/white ship landed in their front yard. The three of them made their way to the ship and got in, strapping themselves in, and the ship began lifting from the ground. As they headed for the sky Logan asked the pilot for a report. Lt. Cmd Russell, of the Nightdippers, told him "It's the Borg sir. They aren't assimilating anything; they seem to be trying to destroy. They are firing plasma charges at the planet, but the fleet is engaged." Logan asked "Do we by chance have the time to drop my wife and daughter by Admiral Loomis' home?" "Sir" Russell replied "The Admiral and his wife are already on board. Their home was taken out about 20 minutes ago. His orders were to bring your wife and daughter to the Hancock." Logan sat back and leaned over to Mary and said "Your parent's house was destroyed, but they are safe aboard the Hancock. His orders were to bring you both on board, so I guess we are all going to the Hancock." Stephanie felt so excited because she had never been on a star carrier before. She had only seen pictures of them, but going aboard was going to be so much better.

As they neared the ship the pilot said "We are coming up on the angle landing bay, we'll be landing momentarily." Stephanie had been looking at the size of the ship and it was a beautiful sight. She held her breath as they entered the landing bay and sat down. She slowly started to breathe again. The Hancock was one of the few ships left in orbit waiting for her captain. Logan immediately got up, opened the door and two marines were standing there. Logan instructed them to escort his wife and daughter to his state room, and he made his way to the bridge. He heard a shrill whistle then the words "Hancock Arriving."

Logan made his way to the bridge, and when he walked in he saw Admiral Loomis (his father-in-law) sitting in his chair. He had felt the ship moving after he landed, and heard the engines getting louder. The Admiral stood up and stepped aside. Logan asked "Are you here to take command?" "Yes and No" the Admiral replied. "I am taking command of the fleet, but you will retain command of the Hancock. I am just making Hancock my Flagship" he said.

Logan sat down in his chair and ordered the ship to move forward towards the rest of the fleet. He asked "Has anyone heard from my parents?" Shelly answered and said "They are both aboard, and in your cabin, and your brother's transfer was granted and he has been transferred to the Dogs." "Good" he replied. As Hanna approached the fleet Logan ordered the ship to go to GQ and Flight Quarters.

As the alarm sounded Stephanie McDaniel sat next to her mother in her father's cabin. Her paternal grandparents were there as well has her maternal grandmother. Her maternal grandfather was on the bridge with her father; he was the admiral of the 3rd fleet. Jack McDaniel, Logan's father, was a retired Admiral from the Navy and he knew that going to flight quarters with general quarters meant that they were headed into battle. He motioned for Stephanie to come to him, so she walked over to him and climbed up in his lap. He put his arms around her to sooth her and said "Everything is going to be all right, you have grandpa George and your dad on the bridge and your Uncle Joe has just transferred to the Pukin Dogs…" Stephanie giggled at that and said "Grampa there isn't really a squadron called the 'Pukin Dogs' is there?" Jack smiled and said "There really is and they have a picture of a dog with wings on it looking like he is puking." Lisa McDaniel broke in at that moment and said "Jack, you do not need to be so explicit, the poor thing will have nightmares for weeks." Stephanie giggled and said "No I won't gramma, but I'm gonna have to see this picture. I want to see Uncle Joe's uniform."

Meanwhile on the bridge George and Logan were discussing battle tactics. As they approached the battle the Lexington was on fire from taking fire from the cube and was falling back. Admiral Loomis called down to CIC and gave the order to patch him through to the Fleet. When Marsha confirmed that he was connected he picked up the microphone and said "This is Admiral Loomis to the fleet. I want the following battleships up front three parallel to the Cube and three between the fleet and the first three. The first three are 'Missouri, Utah, California.' The next three will be 'Kentucky, Arizona, and New Mexico.' The Missouri, Utah and California will fire first, and while they are reloading the Kentucky, Arizona and New Mexico will fire and they will take turns in this rotation, and we will see if this doesn't do some damage to them. All other ships stay back for now, protect the Lexington. Loomis Out."

When the battleships were in formation the first row began firing, and as they reloaded the second would fire. This was a tactic that the Borg had never seen before and they didn't know quite what to think of it. This firing went on for about 20 minutes as the rest of the fleet stood by. Admiral Loomis then picked up the microphone again and said "This is Admiral Loomis, I want the following Torpedo ships to come in from the port and starboard sides and fire 2 torpedoes each: The Alabama, the Minnesota, the Seattle and the Chicago. Alabama and Chicago take the Starboard, and Minnesota and Seattle take the port. Loomis Out." When the ATS's were in position they each fired two torpedoes at the cube. With the battleships inflicting heavy damage to their side of the cube the ATS's were inflicting moderate damage on their sides. At this point the cube started moving away. Logan said, "If they jump we'll lose them!" Loomis commanded the battleships to break formation so as to let the Hancock through, then he said "Go get them son." Logan order the massive carrier to move towards the escaping Cube. He ordered the ship to increase to flank speed and he also ordered CIC to lock a guided missile on the cube. The word came back from the XO that the missile was locked, at that moment they could see a spatial opening and saw the cube entering Logan ordered the missile to be fired. At that moment the missile launched and headed towards the Cube. When it hit the Hancock was within the spatial rift and the Cube exploded. Logan yelled "Brace for Shock, drop blast shield" and the blast shields over all the windows on the bridge and launch and receiving bay. The last thing Logan remembered was being thrown from his chair against the console in front of him.

20 MINUTES LATER…

Logan opened one eye, he felt blood trickling out of his right nostril and his right arm was throbbing. Then he began to attempt to get up, and he was able to pick himself up and get up into his seat. Then he looked around the smoky bridge. The lights were flickering off and on, and the lights on the consoles were flickering as well. Then his father-in-law moaned, and he remembered that the Admiral was on the bridge when the explosion happened.

He immediately jumped out of his seat and ran to where his father-in-law was lying. He kneeled down and rolled the Admiral over and said "Admiral, are you all right?" The admiral opened his eyes and asked in a weak voice: "Boy do you have to call me Admiral? You are my Son-in-Law, the father of my granddaughter. Can't you just call me by my name?" Logan smiled and said "At family BBQ's I am content to do that, Sir, but we are not at a family BBQ. We are on board my ship and while on board I will call you Admiral or Sir. Come on, let's get you back on your feet." With that he helped the Admiral get to his feet and helped him to a chair. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead and Logan called for a corpsman when Admiral Loomis told him "Don't bother with me, there are others who are hurt much worse than I am, see to them I'll be all right." Logan began to look around his bridge to assess the damage.


	16. Chapter 15 Lost In Space

Disclaimer: This writer does not own Star Trek or any of its ideas. He only owns his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 15

Lost In Space

On the inside the ship started coming to life once again as the lights came back on and the computers started coming back up. Logan looked around before heading down the stairs to the CIC. When he arrived Marsha's crew was just about to get everything back on line. He walked over tapping her on the shoulder and asked: "How long?" "I would say about thirty minutes at the most, and we should be ready for battle again" she said. It was apparent that the bump on her forehead was very painful. Logan touched it and looked closely at it, and said "Why don't you go to sickbay and let the doc take a look at that?" "Is that an order?" she smiled. He grinned and said "I can make it one if need be, or you can do the right thing and turn things over to Lt. Marsden and get it checked out yourself." "Lt. Marsden, you have the con down here, I am being forced to go to sick bay" she scowled as she walked off. "Yes sir," the Lt. replied as it was basically his room anyway except while they were at GQ, at which time it became the post of the Commander.

The captain had relaxed the ship's status to condition yellow which meant that the ship stayed at General Quarters, but the hatches were allowed open and people were free to move about as long as they were ready in a moment's notice to go back to condition red. Logan climbed the ladder back to the bridge and sat down in his chair. He looked at Admiral Loomis and said "Aren't you going to get that checked, or do I need to call a corpsman up here?" The Admiral looked with disdain in his eyes and said "You love being able to order me around don't you?" "Sir," he replied "I haven't been able to order you around since the day I met you. The only people that I know that can order you are your wife, Mary Jane and Stephanie or one of your other granddaughters." They both got a chuckle out of that one because the Admiral knew just how true that was. Then he said "Well, I guess I'll go get it checked." "Good idea" Logan replied. "Meanwhile," Logan said "I think I'll see just where we are."

He called down to CIC, and Lt. Marsden answered the com. "Lt." Logan started in "Are we picking up com traffic?" "No sir!" Marsden responded, "Com-sys is still down. Techs are working, but they haven't established communications yet." "Bridge out" Logan replied. He then called down to flight ops and ordered them to put an "E2" up to see if they could locate the fleet and also two raptors for cap. They could not raise the blast shield on the island because the glass had cracked during the explosion. Techs were working to replace the broken glass, but it would be awhile, and with coms and radar down they couldn't tell where they were. He looked on his video screen of the flight deck and watched them launch the E2 then two raptors.

Two hours went by with department after department coming back online. When engineering called up stating that main engines and FTL's were back up and running. Logan was told that it would be well into the next day before it was safe to lift the blast shields on the island, so they were still physically blind, but radar was coming back online. However communications were still off. The E2 landed and the pilot was on his way to the bridge for a sitrep.

Lt. Cmd. Lamar approached the bridge and Logan motioned him in. He came over and hunckered down beside the captain's chair and started speaking in a low voice: "Sir, I don't know where we are, but we are nowhere near the fleet or home." Logan looked around the room and then said "Walk with me Commander." He and the pilot got up and went down the ladder to CIC where Cmd Williams was just coming out the hatch. She looked white as a ghost. She said "Logan, we're lost!" Logan looked at her, then the pilot and said, let's go to my ready room. Marsha, go to my stateroom, get my father, and Admiral Loomis and bring them with you." "Yes sir," she replied then left in almost a run. Logan and the pilot went back up the ladder and headed towards his ready room. He noticed all eyes were on him, with the exception of Yeoman Meyers, who stood her post looking at her data board. She seemed unconcerned with what was going on. It was probably because she had been with Logan long enough to know that whatever had gone wrong, he would figure out a way to make it right, and her getting all worked up in a tizzy wouldn't help matters. Logan spoke "Yeoman Meyers?" Shelley looked up "Yes sir!" "I need you in this meeting to record what is said" Logan told her. "Yes sir." She replied. She took her data board and her recorder and followed the two men to the ready room. Before they entered in Logan turned around and softly said "Get back to work guys, we have two admirals on board and we don't want them thinking that we don't do our jobs." With that he turned and entered the ready room and the bridge crew went back to work.

When Admiral's Loomis and McDaniel entered the room with Cmd Williams, they all sat down. Logan said "Let me introduce Lt. Cmd. Lamar, commanding the Bluetail squadron. Cmd. This is Admiral Loomis and this is Admiral McDaniel…" Admiral McDaniel broke in and said "Son, why don't you just call me dad, you've done that your whole life?" Logan looked at his father-in-law and then at his father and said "This is a conspiracy going on here isn't there?" They both looked at each other with mischief in their eyes and Logan's dad said "Son I don't know what you are talking about!" Logan continued "Admiral we are on ship and onboard you are Admiral. Then he said this is my yeoman, Yeomen Shelley Meyers, and this is my first officer Cmd Marsha Williams. Now that we all know each other, let's get down to business."

Lamar said "I flew out far enough to find that we are nowhere near our star system. The stars and planets are completely different. We did pick up what looked like an outpost, but it isn't one of ours, and it isn't a Comm. I don't know what it is, but it had been decimated by something. It looks like part of the outpost had been completely lifted, ground and all out of the planet. I took video of it, I was hoping that maybe that Lt. we helped escape from the Borg could help us out."

Logan looked at Yeoman Meyers, and she got up and stepped over to the 1MC system and pushed the button. After the whistle, she said "2nd Lt. Nina Lansing, report to the Captain's ready room; 2nd Lt. Nina Lansing."

Within a few minutes Lt. Lansing was knocking at the hatch: "Come in" Logan responded. She entered the room, and said "Lt. Lansing reporting Sir!" Cmd Williams put the disc into the drive and started it. Logan asked the Lt. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Nina looked at it with tears in her eyes and slowly nodded her head and whispered "Yes, it is done by the Borg when they want to eradicate an outpost. That outpost looks like a Klingon outpost; a fierce warrior race, and even they are unable to stand against the Borg." Tears fell down her face as she continued "Every time I see something like this it reminds me of all the races of people I helped make extinct. I didn't want to, but I was made to against my will. Sometimes I just want to die." "Well," Logan said softly, "dying won't do anyone any good. You have an opportunity to make up for all that you were forced to do, and get back at the people who made you do it. So I need you with me on this. Can you do it?" "Yes Sir!" she nodded her head, pursing her lips together. "Good" Logan replied, "maybe you can tell us where we are." "Somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant; maybe Federation space; I'm not really sure, but if we can get our communications back up maybe we can reach out to Star Fleet and request their help."

"CIC to Capt.'s ready room!" came the call on the 1MC. "Go ahead CIC" Marsha responded. "Sir" we are picking up three alien ships unlike any design that I have ever seen and they have been trying to communicate with us, but we just got the radios back up." "We'll be right there" came the reply, and with that everyone poured out of the room into the bridge and down the ladder to CIC

"This is Captain Will Riker, of the Federation Star Ship Titan, we have been trying to establish communications with you for about 17 hours now. We would have beamed over, but our bio-sensors detected a bacteria that may be harmful to us so we haven't been able to assist you." "Captain Riker, this is Captain McDaniel of the United States Naval Space Carrier Hancock, and you are right about the bacteria. It is a remnant left over from our third world war. Anyone who comes over here must stay here for 72 hours in order to give the virus time to become dormant. If that person should go back to your vessel before that time, everyone on your ship with die and your bodies would turn to dust within 24 to 48 hours. So please do not come aboard."

17 Hours Earlier…

Deanna opened her eyes and stretched her arms. It was 5:00 am, and Will had left at 3:30 because he had the 4-8 bridge watch. She laid there thinking about the day which lay ahead of her. Of course her days aboard the Titan weren't near as busy as they were when she was Jean-Luc's ship counselor aboard the Enterprise, but the 350 crew compliment kept her busy. She got out of bed and headed for the shower.

On the bridge Will was looking at the view screen as the Titan travelled at warp 3. Lt. Cmd. Crusher came on to the bridge and said "Good morning Captain." "Good morning Wes, how is engineering this morning?" "Everything is normal, Sir, here is the log" handing him the digital tablet. Will looked at the screen and studied the specs, and took the pointer and signed his name on it handing it back to Crusher.

Deanna took the cup of hot chocolate out of the replicator and sipped it sitting back in her chair. She loved chocolate, whether it is in a liquid, ice cream or candy, it is her favorite. She picked up her tablet and began looking over her appointments for the day when she felt a searing pain in her head. It was so bad that she couldn't even breathe. Everything went black

On the bridge Will got a call from Sick bay that motion sensors had detected that Dianna had fallen in their quarters. He turned the bridge over to his first officer and ran to the turbo lift. When he got to his quarters they were trying to revive her. When she opened her eyes she screamed "BORG…THE BORG THEY ARE HERE THEY ARE KILLING THEM PLEASE STOP THEM…THE PAIN IS TOO MUCH." Will stood up pressed his com-badge and commanded "Red Alert" and suddenly the ship started going to battle stations.

He looked that ship's doctor and said "do what you can for her, I have to go." Dianna said "Go will, stop them there are thousands of people they are trying to kill, stop them please I can't stand the pain. They are fighting…Oh…An explosion…They are gone, they are all dead" then she blacked out again.

Will hurried back to the bridge and ordered the communications officer to notify Star Fleet of the situation and ask for at least two more starships. The communications officer said "sir the Enterprise is on its way to assist." "Good" Riker said, "Maybe we will get the upper hand on them this time." When the Enterprise and the Lexington arrived they all went to warp 9 to the location where the disturbance was.

In the cold vastness of space the carrier drifted aimlessly, lisping slightly to the starboard side.. Sparks could be seen coming off the top of the canopy at different places, and no lights could be seen from the windows on the Bridge, CIC, and Flight Ops on account of the blast shields having dropped during the explosion. In other words Hancock was either dead or shut down.

"It's just drifting. What is it?" Will asked! By this time Dianna had recovered and had come to the bridge. Will said "Dianna you don't have to be here." Dianna smiled and looked at the big ship and said "I've seen pictures of ships like that." Will said "Yeah, so have I, in Earth's history, late 20th and early 21st century. They called them air craft carriers. But where did this one come from?"


	17. Chapter 16 The Alpha and The Omega

Disclaimer: This writer does not own Star Trek or any of its ideas. He only owns his own ideas and story line.

Chapter 16

The Alpha and The Omega

"Captain," the communication's officer, Lt. Brant, said "Captain Picard from the Enterprise wants to talk to you." "Put him on the view screen" Will said. "Good morning Number One," Jean-Luc said with a grin on his face. "Oh…Number One huh…" replied Riker, who was trying to keep from laughing; "It's good to see you again sir" he said. "As it is with you" Jean-Luc replied: "So what do you make of this strange ship?" Will sighed and said "It looks similar to a mid-to late 20th to early 21st century American Aircraft Carrier outfitted for space travel. I think we should send out a probe and see if we can get more information on it." Jean-Luc said "Maybe we should try contacting the ship first to see if the inhabitants will talk to us. I will try that then you can send your probe." "Very good, Sir" Riker said, and they both smiled at each other remembering their days together on the Enterprise.

Jean-Luc turned to his communication's officer and said "open all hailing frequencies." When the command was obeyed he said "This is Captain Picard of the Federation Star Ship Enterprise. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" There was nothing but silence. Again he spoke "This is Captain Picard of the Federation Star Ship Enterprise. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" Again nothing but silence. Then he said "Captain Riker, why don't you go ahead and send out that probe now?"

Riker turned to his operation's officer and said send out a class 1 probe. The officer prepared the probe and launched it. Will sent the information to the view screens of both the Enterprise and the Lexington. When the probe got close to the ship will saw some sort of weapon come alive and a bright light flew out of it, then the screen went blank. "What was that?" Will demanded! "I believe" Picard responded "our new neighbors didn't take kindly to being scanned so they destroyed our probe." "But" Will continued "that was no laser fire that I have ever seen." "You're right," Picard responded "It looked like old fashion gun fire. I had the screen split to capture both the probe and real-time, and what I saw in real-time looked like gun fire from the past. While their weapons seem primitive, I would not suggest any further direct contact with them. That ship looks to be about 1.6 km's in length, that's more than twice the size of Enterprise, and it is definitely twice as wide and tall."

Will looked at Dianna and asked "Do you sense anything from them?" Dianna said "They are just now coming around, there is a lot of confusion and a lot of fear, but they are human with one exception. They have a half human and half Ktarian among them. But there is a lot confusion going on over on that ship right now. Captain Picard, I feel that it would be very unsettling for them to find us here when they get it together. I think we should pull back and wait to see what happens. We can stay within visual range, but far enough that if they send out a shuttle or anything we won't be detected." Picard thought about it, and said "Dianna I have missed your advice since you and Will married," then he smiled and said "Let's all pull back out of the immediate area and we will continue to send out welcoming hails, let's just see what happens.

5 hours later…

"Dr. Crusher to the Bridge," Beverly spoke into the ship's intercom system. "Yes, Dr. what can I do for you?" came Picard's voice. "Captain, my long range sensors are picking something up from that ship. It is a bacterium, one that could be fatal to us," she explained. "Are you sure?" the captain asked. "My equipment is working properly, so my only conclusion is that those people are carriers of some kind of disease that we want nothing to do with." With that Captain Picard notified the other two captains of Beverly's find so they backed off even further.

15 hours later...

The Titan's sensors picked up that the large ship's doors on its bows were opening. Will wasn't sure if it was going to launch an attack or what, so he ordered the ship to go to Red Alert, and the Enterprise and Lexington followed his cue. They saw a ship come out of the large door on the bottom and two smaller ones coming out of two of the smaller one's on top. Will turned to his operation's officer and said "scan and see what those are." "Yes sir," replied the officer. After the scan he said "The two smaller ships seem to be single manned fighters while the larger one has limited armament, but has a lot of radar and sensor equipment which is probably used for recon scouting." "So" Will replied "They don't necessarily know we're here, they are just trying to find out where they are?" "Yes sir," he replied, "that seems to be what is going on."

17 hours later…

"This is Captain Will Riker, of the Federation Star Ship Titan, we have been trying to establish communications with you for about 17 hours now. We would have beamed over, but our bio-sensors detected a bacteria that may be harmful to us so we haven't been able to assist you." "Captain Riker, this is Captain McDaniel of the United States Naval Space Carrier Hancock, and you are right about the bacteria. It is a remnant left over from our third world war. Anyone who comes over here must stay here for 72 hours in order to give the virus time to become dormant. If that person should go back to your vessel before that time, everyone on your ship with die and your bodies would turn to dust within 24 to 48 hours. So please do not come aboard."

"Our bodies would turn to dust!" Picard wondered, "Where have I heard that before?" He immediately went to the main computer console and said "Computer," the computer responded "Go ahead Captain Picard." "Scan through Star Fleet records for any statement about a bacterium that kills within 72 hours and causes the body to turn to dust or powder." The computer began working meanwhile Picard told his communication's officer to patch him over to the Lexington to speak to Captain Data. "Good afternoon Captain Picard," Data responded. "Captain, have you been listening into the conversation between Captain's Riker and McDaniel?" "Yes, I have" Data responded, "and I have wondered about the statement of the Bacteria that causes the body to turn to powder and the only thing that I can come up with would be the report filed by Captain James Kirk in 2262 concerning Omega 4. They had gone through four world wars, the third being biological and the bacterium was part of their makeup. He also talked about how these people "the Yangs" he called them flew the flag of the United States of America and even had the Constitution of the United States of America, as well as a King James Bible. Captain Kirk fought Captain Ron Tracey, the Captain of the USS Exeter, who was helping the Comms try to overcome the Yangs by giving them phasers while the Yangs only had clubs, arrows, knives, and such. Kirk won the fight took Wilder out along with his ship."

"In his report" Data continued, "Tracey's crew had all died and turned to powder because of the bacteria that they got from the planet below. However, had the original landing party just stayed there for 72 hours no one would have died because the virus would have become dormant."

"Very good Captain," Picard said "I do miss having you on my ship, but I am glad you are where you are." "Thank you sir!" Data responded.

Captain Picard then had his communication's officer hail the Hancock "This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise, I would like to speak to Captain McDaniel onboard the United States Naval Space Carrier Hancock." "Go ahead Captain, I'm listening" Logan replied. "Captain, what planet are you from?" Picard inquired. "We're from Earth" Logan replied. Instantly Picard looked around at his bridge crew and then said "Could you repeat that please?" "I said that we're from Earth" Logan said, then he asked "What planet are you from?" Picard said "I'm from Earth."

Nina nudged Marsha and said in a low voice "Sir, I know both Captain's Picard and Riker personally; if you let me talk to them I think we can get this problem taken care of." Marsha leaned over to Logan and said "Why don't we let Nina try, these are her people, maybe we can get somewhere with them if she helps them." Logan nodded his head and then said "Captain, I have someone here who would like very much to speak with you." He then turned the mic over to Nina: "Captain Picard, Captain Riker, this is 2nd Lt. Nina Lansing, I was one of the crew members on board the Tombaugh when it was assimilated by the Borg. Do you remember me?" Riker stood there dumb founded, when Dianna said "Nina, is that you?" "Dianna, oh my, it is so good to hear your voice" Nina exclaimed with tears in her eyes." Dianna was trying to fight back the tears and she said "Oh it is so good to hear yours. Will and I feared the worst after the battle." "I was assimilated, you can be sure, but thanks to these people, they saved me. They brought me back. They are fighting the Borg, and they have a nanite virus that can destroy the implants in the drones; which is how they brought me back."

Picard spoke "Lt. I don't have words to offer for what I did there…" Nina began to sob, and tears welled in Jean-Luc's eyes. "Please Captain, you were assimilated just like I was and you had no more control over what happened than I did. You have nothing to apologize for, but it is good to know that you have been set free." Jean-Luc said "I am thankful that you too have been set free. These people are special people indeed."

"Captain, they are from the Omega Quadrant. Their planet is the fourth planet in their system, so we classified them as Omega 4, and it seems that until 2014 they ran parallel with our Earth in the Alpha Quadrant." Everything started to make sense to Jean-Luc now. The Alpha and the Omega; the Beginning and the End. One planet in the beginning of the Universe and it's mirror in the end of the Universe.


	18. Chapter 17 OLD ACQUAINTANCES

**DISCLAIMER**: This author does not own Star Trek or any of its affiliates. He only owns his own story line and ideas.

Chapter 17

OLD ACQUAINTANCES

As Will moved the Titan closer to the big carrier he began to see the markings on the ship. The first thing he saw was the American Flag painted on the front of the island and the number 41 painted in large white letters on the side. He also noticed the name of the ship and its designation "USS Hancock SCVAN 41" on the starboard side near the front and a copy of the seal of the United States Navy on the side in front of the name.

The weapons on the ship seemed primitive by comparison to the weapons on the Titan, but still dangerous enough that he wouldn't want to mix it with them in a toe to toe battle.

He noticed a large gun turret on top of the carrier and one matching it on the bottom. Each turret had three 16" guns with three 8" guns and three 5" guns. There were also four five inch gun turrets one forward and one aft on each side of the ship. It had several other weapons that he could not identify, but Riker was sure that they were deadly, but he took special note of the nine boxes above the angle flight deck that was marked with a radiological seal on them. "They must be nuclear missiles" he thought, "One would think after all that these people went through that they would never again use nukes, but I guess some never learn from the mistakes of the past."

Meanwhile on board the Hancock the crew was finishing up getting the ship ready to get underway. Logan was standing on the bridge looking at monitors showing key points of the ship: the flight deck, the engineering spaces. At that point the blast shields covering the windows on the bridge lifted and he saw, for the first time, the three federation ships. The largest, the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E, was much smaller than the Hancock, in both length and width as well as depth. The Lexington was the next largest with the Titan being the smallest.

"CIC to bridge" came a call over the ship's 1MC. "This is the Bridge, go ahead CIC" Logan replied. "Sir, a Romulan ship has just appeared on our long range scanner, and it is headed towards us at full sub light speed." The captain turned to the Boatswain's Mate on watch and ordered "Go to General Quarters." With that the Petty Officer blew the Boatswain's Whistle and said over the Mic: "Now hear this, now hear this: This is not a drill: General Quarters, General Quarters, All hands man your battle stations." Then he hit the claxon and the ship came alive.

On board the Titan the communication's officer picked up the GQ alarm from the Hancock and notified the 1st officer who notified Captain Riker. Will rushed to the bridge and told the communication's officer to notify the Enterprise. Picard came on the view screen and Will asked "Captain, the Hancock seems to be going to Red Alert for some reason." "Yes, I wonder if it has anything to do with the Romulan Warbird that dropped out of warp earlier? Let me check!" Then Picard sent a hail to the Hancock "This is Captain Picard of the Enterprise to Captain McDaniel of the Hancock."

"CIC to Bridge" the radio officer called up. Logan picked up the receiver and said "Go ahead CIC." "Sir the Enterprise is calling and Captain Picard would like to speak to you." Logan looked around and said "Patch it up here." "Captain Picard, this is Captain McDaniel I can't talk to you very long right now, a Romulan vessel is in the area and we are getting ready for battle" Logan stated. "You are acquainted with the Romulans?" came the reply. "Very much sir, we've only been at war with them for about 100 years, and while this is the first one we have seen in 20 or so years we still have good reason to go to General Quarters every time they come around." Captain Picard then asked "Why are you at war with them? What happened 100 years ago that caused you to be at war for so long?" Logan sighed and said "To make a long story short they have been trying to wipe us out since the year 2320. Now if you don't mind I have to get ready to do battle." Captain Picard said "Sir, please let me just see what the Romulans want, maybe we can avert a battle with them. Will you let me try?" Logan looked at his father-in-law and his father and they both gave approving looks, so Logan said "Go ahead Captain, we will stand by and let you try." With that Logan ordered the flight ops to stand down, but the entire ship remained at GQ.

"This is Captain Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise, to the Romulan vessel that has just entered our sector. State your business here and explain your presence across the Neutral Zone." There was no answer, so Jean-Luc spoke again "This is Captain Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise, to the Romulan vessel that has just entered our sector…" when there was a shrill noise then a familiar voice "This is Admiral Tomalak of the Warbird Khazara, and we have come across the Neutral Zone because of these diseased infested rodents that you seem to be communicating with. A little over 20 years ago I told you that more pressing matters had caused the Empire to ignore the Federation, and these people are that more pressing matter. They must be destroyed, they cannot be allowed to leave their quadrant." Picard replied "Tomalak I was told you had been forced into retirement" when at that moment without warning a plasma torpedo left the Khazara and headed towards the Hancock.

On the bridge of the Hancock Logan picked up the receiver of the ship's 1MC and hit the ship-wide button and yelled "Incoming, everyone brace for shock." At that moment the torpedo hit the top of the bow taking out the phalanx, and the Captain ordered "Hit them with the 16 incher's now, fire!" the big guns on top and bottom aimed and all three barrels on both turrets fired. Then Logan got on the 1MC to flight ops and said "Launch now." At that moment the Jolly Rogers launched off of the starboard upper tubes and the Pukin Dogs on the upper and lower port tube. Within seconds the Khazara was covered with missile and bullet fire from the fighters as they made their attack. The Khazara started selecting targets and locking them in, and when the weapon's officer pushed the phaser button two raptors were destroyed and one was damaged.

Logan could hear the flight chatter from the pilots "Bravo three you are in their line of fire pull up, pull up." "I can't pull up, she won't budge, I am going to punch out." "Bravo one to all fighters clear the way for bravo three, he can't pull up he is caught in some kind of tractor beam, make sure we give him room to punch out." With that there was a small explosion from the raptor's cockpit and the pod went straight up, the pilot turned the stick and kicked in what was left in the blowers and blew himself out of the way of the battle.

Logan ordered the Flight Op's officer to launch a Starwolf to intercede bravo three., then the ordered the fighters to reach safe distance. When they did he started the Hancock towards the Romulan Ship. Tomalak, on the Khazara, got up off of the deck, the bridge was smashed, most of his bridge crew was dead and he looked the view screen and saw the giant carrier coming towards him. The ship was larger than the Khazara with two turrets of three sixteen inch guns. He looked at the tactical screen and saw that the carrier not only had 9 nuclear Titan missiles, but it had 130 guided strike missiles with 50 sparrows along with six 5 inch gun turrets and three more Phlanax's. He knew that he was beat. He hadn't counted on these people advancing this fast. The last time the Romulans had any real contact with them was 30 years ago in a large battle, and the largest carrier they had was the Yorktown which was nothing near the size of this ship. Tomalak signaled the Hancock and said "I surrender, don't destroy my ship."

Once Logan had received word of Tomalak's surrender he order the ship to go to yellow alert. He then asked to speak to Captain Picard, when Picard was online he said "I apologize for this Captain, but we have been at war for a very long time, and I gave you a chance to cool things down." Picard replied "Yes, you did and Tomalak made the wrong choice. How many people did you lose?" Logan said "Two, pilots, we had some who were injured on the ship, but no fatalities shipwide.  
Logan explained "You know after our third World War we made a treaty that we would never again build and/or use nuclear weapons, but that was all changed in 2320 when the Romulans destroyed our shipyard in space and took several people captive. They blamed us because our people gave them the virus that nearly wiped them out. This is why they bombarded our home world Fifteen years later. The only thing that stopped them from destroying us was the fact that we rebuilt our shipyard and built our first Battleship USS United States SBBN 01 and our first Carrier the USS America SCVAN 01.

Since that time our ships have carried nukes on them, not to use on other humans, but to use on outsiders who come to destroy our world; the Romulans, and now the Borg. The Hancock will be the last ship built to carry nukes. The Enterprise has long range tactical missiles, but they are non-nuclear. When Hancock goes back in for refit, they will take the nukes out and put the long range non-nukes in. But right now I am stuck with them. I have used them against the borg, because it seemed to be the only thing that worked."

Captain Picard sat in his chair on the bridge of the Enterprise and said "I wish there was some place we could talk face to face without endangering my ship." Logan replied "I would like that too, but for now this is the best I can offer. What I need for you is a map to get back home, we're kind of flying blind here." Picard ordered star charts to be sent over to the Hancock.

Logan called Lt. Lansing to the bridge, when she arrived he asked her "Do you want to go back to Starfleet? If you do, now is the time because we are getting ready to leave." Nina asked "what about the virus?" He said "you have been with us long enough you won't affect anyone, they just need to quarantine you until they check you out and destroy any trace on your body."

Lt. Lansing called the Enterprise, "This is the Enterprise" came the reply. "This is 2nd Lt. Lansing, I would like to be beamed over, I want to go home. If you put me in a level 4 containment field in sickbay you will be able to kill any trace of the virus that my clothes or my skin might have on it, but my inside is well past the point of passing it on." "Very well Lt. Lansing, welcome home" and with that she disappeared from the bridge. Logan turned and looked at his crew and said "let's get underway." After all preparations were made the coordinates were inputted into the computer and the ship went into hyperspace.

Tomalak looked in amazement as he saw the giant carrier just zip away.


	19. Chapter 18 Retribution

DISCLAIMER: This author does not own Star Trek or any of its affiliates. He only owns his own story line and ideas.

Chapter 18

Retribution

Will and Data were getting ready to leave the Enterprise and return to their respective ships when Will stopped and asked Captain Picard "What about Tomalak?" Jean-Luc instructed the communication's officer to open a hailing frequency, and when it was done he said "Picard to Tomalak, do you require any assistance?" And before Tomalak could answer another Warbird dropped out of warp. "Captain Picard, this is Commander Donatra, I hope that Tomalak hasn't caused you any problems, but judging by the looks of his Warbird I am sure he has." Picard smiled and said "Commander…He's been no problem for us, it was the other humans that he mixed it with, and he should have left them alone." "What other humans?" Donatra asked. "They come from the Omega Quadrant." Picard explained "they were in a battle with a Borg cube when they got caught up in a spatial rift and ended up here. They had just got their systems back online when Admiral Tomalak attacked them. He seemed to indicate that he had standing orders to exterminate them if they left their quadrant" Picard replied. "No, no, no" Donatra said slowly shaking her head, and then she looked towards the direction of Tomalak's ship and said "You attacked an Omegan ship? Have you lost your mind? You know that such an attack is punishable by the death penalty. Our standing orders are to stay completely away from the Omegans and the only time we are to engage them is when they enter our space. Have you forgotten the millions that died during that 100 year war when their virus ran rampant through our people? Your own brother died from that virus. I am placing you under arrest for treason. How many Romulans died because of this battle?" Tomalak hung his head and said nothing, and Donatra ordered her first officer to take command of the Khazara, and she ordered Tomalak beamed into the brig of her ship. Then she turned the view screen again and said "I apologize for Tomalak's intrusion into your space. I tracked him here is the only reason I am here, but I am here with Star Fleet's approval." Picard looked at the tablet that had been handed him, and he said "Yes, I see that. As I said he has been no problem for us, and was no real problem for the Omegan's as their ship was far bigger than ours or yours, and was much more advanced that Tomalak had figured. They are now using faster than light speed engines." Donatra said "Well, as I said, if they stay out of our space we will leave them alone. If you ever see them again, please inform them." At that moment both warbirds disappeared into hyperspace.

Donatra walked into the brig area and walked up to the centurion on duty and dismissed him. When he left the room she walked over to Tomalak's cell and slowly shook her head and said "We knew you just couldn't resist causing problems when we allowed you to retire, but no one ever expected you to make contact with the Omegans; especially to launch and attack against them. Do you realize that you have broken Imperial law, and that your actions will result in your execution? Do you realize that your actions will undo every good thing you have ever done, and you will be discredit; your family will be discredited?" Tomalak broke in "Oh don't act so sanctimonious with me. You were part of the conspiracy that murdered the Imperial Senate with Thalaron Radiation when Praetor Shinzon's plan was rejected by the Senate. Your hands are filled with blood, and I have all the evidence that I need to have you executed at any time I please, and should anything happen to me you can be sure that all that information will be sent to the present Senate. So I would advise you to not be so hasty about my execution." Tomalak sat there on his bed with a smug look on his face, and Donatra began to pace back and forth and she looked at him and yelled "Liar!" and pulled her plasma pistol and pointed it at him. Tomalak never broke stride, he just shook his head and said "Go ahead, and see if I am a liar. You have nothing to fear, if I am a liar, but if I am telling the truth your life is over. The lives of your family are over. Your family will be disgraced and will be executed along with you. So go ahead and kill me!"

With that Donatra slammed her hand on the button to open the door, and when she walked in Tomalak stood up and pulled a hidden Commander's knife and shoved it into her throat. She fell to the floor as she died. Tomalak smiled and said "Now I have two warbirds under my command." He took her disrupter, her command codes and walked out.

On the bridge of the Valdore, the first bridge turned to see Tomalak walk into the bridge, and as he went for his weapon Tomalak fired first and killed him. Then he smiled and said "Anyone else?" He turned to the transporter officer and commanded "Beam the first officer off of the Khazara, and…" he thought for a moment "…just beam him into outer space." The officer looked at him and said "outer space?" Tomalak looked at him and said "Do you have hearing problems?" "No sir!" came the reply, and he started working the controls, as he began the transport he asked "shall I leave him dematerialized?' Tomalak looked at him with cold eyes and said "Only if you want to join him! I want to see him in front of the Valdore." At that moment he saw the squirming body of the first officer jerking and kicking trying to get air. Tomalak laughed as the officer's eyes popped out of his head and the officer died a slow and painful death.

Tomalak then got on the communication station and called the Khazara and told his own first officer "I am advancing you to the rank of Commander, and you will command the Khazara. I will retain command of the Valdore. Now we will go hunt the Omegans down and bring retribution down on them for the Romulan lives that they have taken both in the past and this day."

He then looked at the officer sitting at the communication computer and said "type in this code 4W-849-JX5 and send it." When he sent it responses started coming in from different warships, most of which were outdated but were still able to put up a fight. All in all 35 Romulan warships rallied together and headed for the Omega Quadrant; all with on thing on their minds: Kill the Omegans and make them pay for the pain and anguish they had brought upon the Empire years ago. One by one, they all went into warp and disappeared into hyperspace.

The Enterprise was travelling at warp 5 and Capt. Picard was in his ready room reading a book when the bridge notified him of a message coming in from Starfleet Headquarters. "I'll take it in here" he replied. He got up from his couch and went to his desk and sat down in his chair and turned on the monitor and saw the Starfleet symbol. He hit the keyboard to allow the message; it was a live message from Admiral Janeway. Kathryn greeted him with "Hello Jean Luc, how are you this evening?" "I'm fine Admiral, and you?" he replied. She replied with "I'm doing all right. I am contacting you because we received a communique from the Romulan High Command, more specifically from their Empress Sela, whom I believe you are familiar with. They were asking about two of their war birds, the Khazara that had been stolen by Tomalak, and the Valdore under the command of Commander Donatra. Sela said that Donatra sent a message 3 hours ago stating that Tomalak was under arrest and the Khazara was under the command of her first officer and they were headed home. She also said that Tomalak had tried to re-start a war with a group of humans called the Omegans, and that Enterprise, Titan and Lexington were at the scene. So what can you tell me?"

Jean Luc leaned back in his chair and said "We were there, I tried to talk Tomalak down before starting a fight with a ship that was more than twice the size of Enterprise and that had one reason for being in existence; War. Plain and simple, it was a warship—unlike Starfleet ships which are made for exploration, but have weapons onboard. This ship was not made for exploration, it was made for war. They had gotten into it with the Borg which had attacked their home planet in the Omega Quadrant. As they destroyed the cube, they got caught up in the blast and it landed them in our space." "That's quite a jump, from the Omega Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant" Janeway said. "Yes, it is, but their ship is made for jumps like that. They don't rely on warp power; they jump from one point to the other."

"Anyway," Picard continued "as soon as they were able to get their systems back online, and communicate with us they asked us for star charts which they did not have. We found out that they are a people that were on a parallel course with earth until 2014. In 2262 Capt. James Kirk discovered these people; they had just ended their 4th World War. They still had the American Flag, the constitution, the whole bit. You can read about Kirk's discovery of these people under the file 'Incident at Omega 4.' They also had one of our officers whom they had rescued from the Borg, and 2nd Lt. Nina Lansing, a half human/half Ktarian. We were communicating when Tomalak showed up and attacked them. It was really too bad because it only took about 3 minutes for the Hancock to cripple the Khazara. Tomalak surrendered and we gave the Omegans the star charts back to their home and they left. The Valdore showed up and placed Tomalak under arrest. Now according to Captain McDaniel, the Hancock's commander, in 2320 the Romulans found Omega 4 and destroyed their newly built space station and ship yards. They abducted about a dozen of them not knowing that the Omegans carry a deadly virus that if you don't stay on their planet for 72 hours after first contact, say you leave and go back to your ship, you will die your who crew will die and your bodies will completely disintegrate. How long it takes is unknown, but it is something that is left over from their 3rd World War which was nuclear and biological. However, this virus nearly wiped out the Romulan Empire before they could get it stopped. Their standing orders are to avoid the Omegans at all costs unless they violate Romulan space; orders which Tomalak broke when he attacked the Hancock."

Picard continued "Commander Donatra took control of Tomalak, apologized for the intrusion across the Neutral zone and left, but that was three hours ago. So what do you need me to do Admiral?" Janeway thought and then said "I need you to return the location where all this took place and see if there is a problem, then report back to me." Picard responded "Yes Sir, Picard out. Picard to the bridge, we are returning to our previous location, notify the Titan and Lexington that I would like for them to aid us. Go to Warp 9. Execute." And the Enterprise went to warp 9.


	20. Chapter 19 The Return of the Romulans

DISCLAIMER: This author does not own Star Trek or any of its affiliates. He only owns his own story line and ideas.

Chapter 19

The Return of the Romulans

"Rough Rider 404 this Eagle Claw 12." "Go ahead Eagle Claw, this is Rough Rider." "Rough Rider I am your relief so you can head back to the carrier." "That's fine with me, there is nothing out here. The Star Wolfs have been searching through the debris, but they have found nothing that belongs to the Hancock. Everything belongs to either the Yorktown or the Intrepid." "Yeah, it's a crying shame that we lost those carriers, about 10,000 people in all." "Roger that Eagle Claw…" Just at that moment the two raptors were thrown aside as a carrier jumped into normal space; it was the Hancock. "Woe did you see that?" Rough Rider asked excitedly, then he saw the name on the side of the ship and shouted "Wooo, Yes, baby, Yes; they are back, man they are back" then he heard "This is the Hancock, how are you boys doing out there?" It was Captain McDaniel. Eagle Claw responded "We are doing much better now sir, now that we know that you're alright. We feared the worst when you disappeared on us earlier this week. They've even stepped up the work schedule on the _Cloud Williams_ so we could have another ftl carrier in the near future." Logan looked at Marsha and smiled and said "Well, it won't hurt to have another anyway. Besides I think my first officer is getting antsy for it to be completed so she can put in to become its first skipper." Marsha threw a playful punch at Logan and said with a smile: "I hate you."

Rough Rider grinned and said "You think she could handle that much ship?" Logan replied with a smile "Oh yeah…I pity the Cube that would come up against her with that much power at her fingertips." He looked at Marsha and she was blushing, and Logan said "Well guys I think, after all these years, I have finally found a way to embarrass my first officer." You could hear the laughter over the com, but they all knew that as good natured as Marsha Williams was that in command of a Faster Than Light Speed Carrier, she would be a force to be reckoned with, and Logan had every intention of recommending her for the job.

As they continued on Logan was able to view the Enterprise on approach, a call came to him; it was the Captain of the Enterprise "Ramona Sanchez." "Man am I glad to see you" she said. Logan smiled and said "Likewise, I thought we were done for when we woke up in a region of space that we had no star maps for. But we did manage to meet an old friend." "Who was that?" Sanchez asked. "Get ready! Are you sitting down?" Logan asked. "Just tell me, Logan" she replied. "Tomalak" Logan replied. Captain Sanchez's expression went from humorous to ice cold. "Where did you meet up with that b…" and she stopped herself before finishing the question. "Were you going to say 'buzzard'?" Logan asked. She gave a wry grin and said "I guess that'll do." Logan said "He attacked us with one of their new Warbirds. It only took about three minutes to disable it. The only damage he did was to take out the front Phalanx and that was done with a pre-emptive strike because I allowed a Starfleet Captain the opportunity to try and talk him down before I fired and he got the first shot in. That's okay because it was his last shot. He surrendered." "Why didn't you bring him here to stand trial and be executed for the crimes against humanity?" she asked. Logan smiled and said "Well, it is easier to disable their ships than to get a Starwolf over there to arrest one of them."

Captain Sanchez was extremely hostile when it came to the Romulans because her Father was on the, star carrier, San Diego when the Romulans took it out 30 years ago in the last great battle between the two, and she never got over it. She was a teenager at that time and it was a time of sadness in her life from which she would never heal. She looked out at the Hancock and saw the damage to the bow of the gigantic ship and said "Well, welcome home. It looks like you'd better get in there and get your ship fixed because I don't think we are through with the Romulans yet." Logan keyed his phone receiver and said "I agree, I'll talk to you later." And with that he gave the order to continue on to Earth.

As the Hancock neared the Puget Sound Shipyard in high orbit above the earth four tug boats met her to lead her in and set her up to a pier. "Welcome Home Hancock" came the statement from one of the tugs. The four tugs latched on, two on the starboard side (one forward and one aft), and two on the port (one forward and one aft), and ordered Hancock to cut her engines. Logan gave the order to cut all engines and the tugs took control and guided the giant ship into super-structure. As they were led through they passed the _Cloud Williams_, and Marsha said "She's beautiful isn't she?" Logan gave out a quiet giggle and said "I guess so, she is exactly like the Hancock though." Marsha snapped her head around and said "No she's not, she's a beautiful lady." Logan said "A beautiful lady with six 5" turrets, two 16" turrets, two Sparrow missiles, nine non-nuclear Titan 3 Missiles, five Phalanx's…" "alright…alright…alright, you made your point" Marsha said. "So she comes well armed, but she's still beautiful." Logan grinned and said "You realize of course that in 30 years the Hancock, Enterprise and the Cloud Williams will be obsolete and they will have carriers that will make these look like these make the America look; toys." "Can I not just savor the moment, or is that asking too much?" she quipped. "Sure, be my guest, savor it all you want, but make sure your tail end is at Command by 0730 tomorrow morning so I can recommend you for the job as the Cloud William's first skipper. Or would you rather just stay up her savoring the moment?" Logan said with a grin on his face. Marsha turned and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Watching those two is like watching an episode of the three stooges" Admiral McDaniel said to Yeoman Meyers. Shelly smiled and said "It breaks the monotony around here, we like it. We sure are going to miss her when she transfers out." "Yes she's a good person, but of course I have known her all her life. She and Logan grew up together, and they have always been like that towards one another" Admiral McDaniel stated.

Logan and Marsha stood before the bench of Admirals who made the decision as to who got what ships, and Logan started in: "I appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning sirs…" when one of the Admirals broke in "Logan, don't patronize us. We know why you are here. You are here to recommend your first officer for command of the Cloud Williams. Now, other than the ship being named after her grandfather and her being your first officer what reason can you give that she should be given consideration over other candidates?" "Well, Admiral Nagata, Marsha is one of the few command officers that has been in combat situations, as a command officer. She knows carrier tactics, and she has been with me and has kept up with me on two previous carriers: the Potemkin and the Pennsylvania. And since I have been in command of the Hancock she has been an invaluable part of my team. On all three ships she has served on the Bridge and in CIC during GQ and in battle. When I was hurt last year on the Pennsylvania she took command and continued the battle and won against the Comm. When she was a fighter pilot she was responsible for the destruction of 4 enemy cruisers. She served as Cag on the Waterloo for two years. She is ready to take command." "We understand that, Logan, but is she going to be able to handle this much firepower. Will she be able to continue fighting?" the Admiral asked. "If you are worried about her being a woman, let it be remembered that you gave the Enterprise to Ramona Sanchez, who is a woman. Did you have those doubts about her?" Logan asked. "As a matter of fact we did, and some of us still do" came the response. Logan looked around and said "Look I know both of these women, I have seen both in action, and I am here to tell you that I place not only the security of my own life in their hands, but the lives of my wife and daughter in their hands; especially the hands of this woman standing next to me. She will not fail you and neither will Ramona." "You'll have our answer by tomorrow morning" came the reply from the panel, and Logan and Marsha saluted and walked out.

"Some things never change" Marsha said. "Look don't get discouraged, just wait…." Suddenly there came a loud announcement "All officers and enlisted personnel report to your ships immediately." The call was repeated several times. Logan found a phone and dialed the bridge. Shelly answered: "Bridge." "Shelly, what's going on?" Logan asked. "Sir we are being towed out, long range scanners have picked up 35 Romulan vessels that have just dropped out of hyperspace" Shelly responded. "Send a Starwolf to pick me and Marsha up at command" Logan ordered. "One is already on its way. Admiral Loomis took command of the Enterprise battle group and went out of meet them" Meyers replied. Logan looked at Marsha and said "Romulans have come out of hyperspace, 35 ships in all. Bill took command of the Enterprise battle group and went out to meet them. A Starwolf is on its way for us." At that moment he heard the whine of the ship and looked up and saw the black over white gunship lowering itself down to the ground. When it got to the ground Logan opened up the port door and Marsha got in, then he did and closed the door.

When they reached the ship yards the Starwolf entered the super-structure and headed towards the carrier which was already in a 90 degree starboard turn. They flew over the canopy and entered the angle deck on the port side. As they got out of the gunship Logan heard the announcement: "Hancock Arriving." They hurriedly found their way to the bridge.

As they walked on to the bridge someone said "Captain's on the bridge" and Logan said "As you were." It's not like it really mattered because his father, an Admiral was sitting right there, but he allowed the charade anyway.

An hour went by as the tugs worked to get the carrier out of the super-structure. By this time all the other ships of the battle group had already proceeded to the rendezvous point to join up with the Enterprise battle group, since it would take them longer than the Hancock. Finally Hancock was released and all of her fighters were aboard. Logan gave the order for the ftl's to be engaged. Then Hancock then disappeared into a zip of light and was gone.


End file.
